20A Fabryčnaja Street is the site of a bathhouse near which opposition politician Viktar Hanchar and businessman Viktar Krasouski were abducted on 16 September 1999. Near the bathhouse where the attack allegedly occurred, investigators found fragments of car headlights, braking marks, signs of a car hitting a tree, and blood stains. DNA analysis showed that the blood belonged to Hanchar. Hanchar was 41, and Krasouski was 47 at the time of their disappearance.
In 2019, Yury Harauski, who claimed to be a former member of a Belarusian “death squad,” stated that he took part in the abductions and killings of opponents of Lukashenka. He first spoke about the seizure and murder of former Interior Minister Yury Zakharanka on 7 May 1999, and then about the case of Hanchar and Krasouski.
According to Harauski, Hanchar and Krasouski were the last to leave the bathhouse and got into a car. “The street was dark, with no streetlights or passers-by. We had everything under control. When their car started to move, we blocked its way. I took a couple of steps forward, broke the glass, and struck Hanchar in the lip and nose with a swing of the chain. Pankou opened the door, and I put the chain around Hanchar’s neck. I pulled him out of the car and laid him on the ground,” he said.