A month ago Maxim Markhaliuk disappeared in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Exactly a month ago, on September 16, the then 10-year-old Maxim Markhaliuk, alone without adults, went into the forest for mushrooms and did not return. After 31 days, the child has not been found. Where they looked for the boy, what versions were considered and whether there are results a month later - the chronology of events of the largest operation in the country. The boy lives in the village of Novy Dvor, Svisloch district, Grodno region. For the first time, hours after it became known about the disappearance of the boy, local residents and the police took part in the search. Three dogs were put on the trail, and nothing. On Sunday, about 150 people were involved in the search. On September 18, the first information about the missing Maxim appeared in the media. Rescuers, police, hundreds of volunteers immediately began to arrive at the scene. public organizations- "TsetrSpas", "Belovezhskie Zubr" - with lanterns comb the forest meter by meter. The search engines from the "Angel" detachment also arrived. A rescue helicopter circled the area, but no sign of the Boys was found. The main version - Maxim was lost in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Every day, volunteers, volunteers, police and the Ministry of Emergency Situations combed the forest. September 22 was the sixth day of the search. Emergency helicopters were involved. 20 specialists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations arrived in Pushcha, with the appropriate search skills in such difficult conditions. Rescuers have drones and thermal imagers, which will allow them to search for the missing child at night. In addition, cynologists with service dogs and divers from the Ministry of Emergency Situations arrived in the Svisloch district. About two thousand volunteers worked at the place where the child went missing, and about 60 square kilometers of the forest were surveyed in six days. The search was complicated by the fact that the area where the child disappeared is a protected area, and sanitary deforestation has never been carried out there. In addition, there are many swamps in the search area, which also made it difficult to comb through the forest. But the search for the boy did not bring results. A mass gathering was scheduled for the first weekend. On September 23 and 24, more than 2,000 people took part in the search for the missing boy in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Whole families came to search, and not only from Belarus. The square of searches was significantly expanded, at night they continued to search for the boy with a thermal imager. But the search again did not bring results. Then the first suggestions appeared that perhaps the boy was not in the forest. On September 26, volunteers and volunteers continued to look for the boy. Mostly civilians were sent to comb the forest, while more trained people explored the swampy area. The headquarters still adhered to the main version - Maxim could be frightened by bison and he went far into the forest. On the same day, September 26, the Svisloch District Department of the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case into the disappearance on September 16 of a resident of the village of Novy Dvor, Svisloch District, Grodno Region, Grodno Region, in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 167 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Belarus. The basis for the adoption of the said procedural decision was the expiration of ten days from the date of filing an application for the disappearance of the child and the failure to establish his whereabouts in the course of the operational-search measures. But literally the next day, September 27, the media appeared new information that the boy deliberately ran away from home, and that Maxim had been planning an escape for 3 years. In the village, the words of Maxim's grandmother, who told how her grandson several years ago, when he was 7 or 8 years old, said: "I will run away from home anyway." Grandmother to him: "They will find you." And he: "They won't find me, I'll go to the swamps." And then he periodically said that he had such a plan. Now the locals adhered to a different version, that Maxim left for another area, and did it on the same evening or the next morning. The child most likely had money. Even local children say that it is very easy to earn them in Pushcha. For example, you can sell berries or mushrooms. And everyone characterizes Maxim as a very lively and purposeful boy. Meanwhile, in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, the search for Maxim Markhaliuk went on for the 11th day. Unfortunately, no new traces of Maxim have been found. With each day of searching, the hope of finding Maxim in Belovezhskaya Pushcha faded away. And the longer they searched for the boy, the more questions appeared. Hundreds of volunteers, police officers, military personnel, foresters, rescuers, local residents participated in the search activities, drones with thermal imagers and aviation of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were involved - and not a single trace. Even criminal versions began to be discussed. But no specifics. Maybe the child was kidnapped - but by whom and why? Could a poacher accidentally shoot him in the forest? However, until now, the search engines have not found any traces that could be hooked on. On September 29, it was a pleasant decision that, in order to simplify the work and increase the efficiency of the inspection of the allocated territory, trained specialists and coordinators of the PSO "CentreSpas" (Grodno, Grodno region), local residents will take part in the search for Maxim Markhaliuk. Mass was no longer required. Other information began to appear on the Internet that it is possible that the child crossed the border with Poland. However, the leadership of the Polish part of Belovezhskaya Pushcha stated that the boy had no opportunity to get to Poland. “It’s impossible: there are too many fences. A high fence stretches across the Pushcha along the entire length of the state border. On October 1, rescuers began to check new version that the child is in one of the dangerous swamps in the surrounding villages. And the volunteers from the detachments were asked not to comb the forests and the surroundings of the village of Novy Dvor anymore - the reason was that the volunteers had nothing to check, and the version that the child got lost or hid in the forest was not confirmed. On October 3, OMON joined the search for Maxim Markhaliuk. The militia continued to work out all versions of disappearance of the boy. At the same time, hundreds of messages came from psychics and clairvoyants. Some of them have even been tested. But none of the versions brought results. On October 4, a Polish regional information website reported that the Siedlce police were investigating a report about an unknown boy who was driving into the city, hiding in a truck, and then fled. After information appeared that in Poland an unknown boy hid in a truck and then fled (and this information caused a wide public outcry in Belarus and the border regions of Poland), local police officers tracked down the driver who sent them this information through the website and showed to him a photograph of Maksim Markhaliuk, who disappeared in Belarus. The trucker confidently stated - no, it was not Maxim in his car: that boy was swarthy, presumably a gypsy. On October 6, Maxim Markhaliuk was put on the international wanted list: Interpol also joined in the search for the boy: information about signs, as well as a photograph of the Belarusian, appeared on the website of the international agency. In addition, a photograph and a description of Maxim's appearance were handed over to law enforcement officers in neighboring countries. Meanwhile, in the agro-town of Novy Dvor, the 21st day of searching was underway. Law enforcement officers, including riot police, worked at the scene. The search continued. On October 10, Maxim Markhaliuk, who disappeared in Belovezhskaya Pushcha on September 16, turned 11 years old. The boy continued to search for 26 days. So far, no new circumstances have come to light. Psychics also joined the search for Maxim Markhaliuk, who disappeared in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Several people came to Pushcha to check their versions, told the police their assumptions, someone told about visions. But none of the versions of psychics was confirmed. About ten psychics from Belarus tried to find Maxim. A month and nothing...
In Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Maxim Markhaliuk turned 11 on October 10, and nothing is known about his whereabouts.
On September 16, a 10-year-old boy disappeared in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Two weeks ago, a large-scale search and rescue operation, one of the largest in the country, took place in Novy Dvor. More than two thousand volunteers came to the Belarusian forest to help find Maxim. Unfortunately, there are no results so far.
Like the Tut portal. by, now a quiet and measured life continues in Maxim's native village. More recently, the headquarters of the Red Cross and many volunteers of the Angel detachment were located here.
The mother of the missing Maxim works at a school, she refuses to comment on the situation to journalists. The school said that they are trying to support the woman with all their might.
I really sympathize with the boy's mother, but I can't imagine how to help in this situation. Volunteers stayed with me all this time. She fed, hosted, - says a local resident Zoya. - All versions have already been discussed. Of course, you really want him to be found, and you believe that he just went to travel.
Now Maksim has been put on the international wanted list. The Investigative Committee of Belarus has opened a criminal case on the fact of the disappearance of the boy.
On the this moment Police officers are busy searching.
The search is currently ongoing. The criminal case on the fact of the disappearance of the child was initiated on September 26 in connection with the expiration of ten days from the date of filing an application for the disappearance of the boy and the failure to establish his whereabouts during the operational-search activities, - Sb. by Yulia Goncharova, official representative of the Investigative Committee.
According to the press service of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Grodno Regional Executive Committee, police officers from the Svisloch, Slonim, Zelvensky, Mostovsky District Departments of Internal Affairs, servicemen of internal troops and employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are taking part in the search and rescue operation. Experts study the most difficult to pass and wetlands.
Do you know how many versions there were? No matter what people say: they say they stole a child, fled abroad, drowned in a swamp, but these are all assumptions, but how it really happened is unknown. In the church we pray for Maxim to be found alive and unharmed, - says the local priest Father Anatoly.
Despite the fact that Maxim has a Catholic family, in the Orthodox church of Novy Dvor, people order services for the health of the child. This is how the unity of the inhabitants in a common misfortune is manifested.
There is a village council in Novy Dvor, and the journalists managed to find someone there only after lunch. Vera Lisovskaya, Head of the Children's Affairs Department, commented on the situation:
There is no news. So I can't tell you anything. Maybe only about the family - simple hardworking people who work hard. Ordinary rural family. And Maxim is ordinary, mobile, like other children of his age.
The journalists drove up to the place where all operations began - a hut called the base. Here the rescuers found Maxim's abandoned bicycle. At the moment, it is empty here, now the locals do not let their children into the forest.
Yes, and for us adults, it’s a little scary to go into the thicket - now something incomprehensible seems to be behind every tree, because there are many versions of the missing boy. It is not clear what really happened, - says a local resident Vera.
Everyone seems to know about Maxim's birthday in a small agricultural town. The locals say: he turned 11. A month has passed since they are looking for Maxim.
Why hasn't a murder case been filed yet? Former prosecutor's office investigator Oleg Volchek asks questions to law enforcement agencies.
Thousands of people from all over Belarus joined the search for 10-year-old Maxim Markholiuk, Svіslatskaya Gazeta
The tenth day has passed since the disappearance of 10-year-old Maxim Markhaliuk in Belovezhskaya Pushcha.
On the evening of September 16, at about 20.00, the boy rode his bicycle towards the forest near the village of Novy Dvor and disappeared. Policemen found a child's bicycle in the forest.
On September 24, Belarus hosted the largest search operation in modern history: more than two thousand people took part in the search for the child, on Sunday the number of people participating in the search reached three thousand.
Search results have not brought.
Former investigator of the prosecutor's office, head of the human rights center “Legal Assistance to the Population” (registered in Ukraine) Oleg Volchek
Former Prosecutor's Office Investigator Oleg Volchek, who at one time investigated two cases of missing children, formulated a number of questions for law enforcement agencies. The first and most important of them: why, after 9 days, a criminal case was not initiated on the murder of a boy?
Why weren't professionals involved in the search?
It is good that many people responded to the call to join the search for the boy, but the situation requires prompt and professional action. Why is the initiative taken by citizens, the search and rescue squad "Angel", and not the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the prosecutor's office? Most citizens do not understand and do not own the methodology for searching and detecting traces of a person. The life of a child is at stake. There is no complete and objective official information on the case from law enforcement agencies.
It is not clear why a criminal case has not yet been opened on the fact of the murder of a boy (this is a standard practice adopted since the mid-90s). This is exactly what happened when I was investigating two criminal cases on the fact of the disappearance of children. The search for the child should be carried out by the operational-investigative group, and not by volunteers who came to search, but picked mushrooms (see the comments of the citizens themselves on the forums).
The military had to participate in combing the forest from the very beginning. In such emergency situations, an operational headquarters is created, primarily from representatives of the military departments. Since participation in combing the forest for civilians can also end sadly. The soldiers could organize combing along a large perimeter of the area, and I think that in a day they would be able to go through all the trails and wilderness areas, quite quickly exploring the area where the boy could be.
Even if there were traces, they are now trampled down or destroyed by such a mass of people.
Not psychics should look, but criminologists and investigators
In my investigative practice in the search for a missing boy, we involved several people who called themselves psychics. They could not locate the child, the only information provided by psychics was that the boy had died. Unfortunately, a year later we learned that he left with the man who committed the murder.
In the investigation, it is necessary to apply complex methods - starting with the involvement of psychologists and forensic experts, ending with experts - foresters, geographers, special forces, etc.
Versions of the disappearance
It is possible that the boy is no longer in the forest. With such a serious force of citizens, the boy could already be found - half-dead or with signs of hypothermia. He couldn't have gone far. As follows from the information of the volunteers, the geography of the search operation spread over a much larger territory than the boy could have left.
If he is alive, then most likely he is already in another place ...
If he is not in the forest, then, most likely, he could leave with someone in a passing car. Or someone picked it up (and the traces were lost on the pavement). The boy could be afraid that so many people were looking for him, and he could hide ...
It can be assumed that the child was the victim of a crime. Why? Near the alleged place of disappearance, children's things are found, but they do not belong to the missing boy. But who owns the children's things? Why are they found in the forest near the hut? Here we can talk about the second child. It is possible that the boy could become a victim of a maniac.
There is one proof that the boy could be with a stranger - a basket. The basket of mushrooms did not belong to him. It is not difficult to interview all local residents and establish to whom it could belong: fingerprints and other material evidence should remain on it.
It is strange that the boy's bicycle remained. Why did he leave it? Every inch of the bike must be checked for fingerprints and other physical evidence. The evidence says that there could be another person in the forest besides the boy. Today, every citizen has a mobile phone. We need to urgently check for calls that could come from here.
Check all cars, garages, sheds of nearby villages. Carefully study the boy's environment - any information can lead to a trace.
Do not wait ten days, but immediately initiate a criminal case
From the first day of the disappearance of the boy it was necessary to initiate a criminal case. We're wasting time and evidence.
The Investigative Committee and the prosecutor's office should hold a preliminary press conference and sum up the results of the search. Lack of information is fertile ground for rumors and panic. The criminal version, if such exists, should be made public.
There is very little time, it is necessary to act by professionals.
For the second month, law enforcement officers and volunteers have been searching for a schoolboy who disappeared in mid-September. Maxim Markhaliuk went to Belovezhskaya Pushcha for mushrooms and did not return home. The internal affairs bodies of Belarus sent information about the missing boy through Interpol, but there is still no information about the child.
AiF recalls cases when missing children were still alive even after a long time.
abduction
The disappearance of 5-year-old Yakov Ziborov became known in March 2016. Unidentified persons took the boy from an apartment in Moscow, where he lived with his grandparents. Russian law enforcers have suggested that the disappearance of the child may be of a criminal nature.
For more than a year, the boy was searched all over the world, including with the help of Interpol. As a result, he was found alive and well in June 2017 in the Mogilev region and handed over to his grandmother.
Representatives of the Investigative Committee of Russia reported that members of a radical religious community were involved in the kidnapping of the boy. At the same time, according to one version, the mother of the child belongs to this community.
In 2010, a resident of the Kiev region, 10 years later, found her daughter, who was kidnapped at a train station in the Ukrainian capital in 2000 at the age of 4 years. The mother saw her daughter in one of the Internet editions of the program dedicated to the search for missing children. At the meeting, the girl could not even recognize her. The woman had to undergo a DNA examination and within two years to prove her relationship with her daughter.
In 2008, in Latvian Daugavpils, 16 years after the disappearance, a boy was found who was abducted at the age of one and a half months. As it turned out, all this time he lived next door to his real parents. The case of the missing child was solved by accident: the woman with whom he had lived all these years ended up in a pre-trial detention center, the teenager was handed over to social service employees. Starting to collect documents for the boy, officials discovered that he did not have a birth certificate. After lengthy clarifications, the woman admitted that the child was adopted. DNA analysis fully confirmed the relationship of the lost child with the parents who have been looking for him all these years.
Most of the missing people in Belarus stay for ten days. If by this time the person has not been found, he is put on the wanted list. In addition, according to paragraph 2 of Art. 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Belarus, a criminal case is initiated on the fact of disappearance. Moreover, even if a person disappeared more than twenty years ago, the criminal case is not closed, but only suspended until the moment when it becomes known where he is.
RUN AWAY FROM HOUSE
In March 2017, three children from Vitebsk went to school for classes, but never returned home. They took their passports and money with them, but left mobile phones and a note saying they were leaving home.
A week later, the missing children were found almost 9,000 km from their home in Khabarovsk, Russia. Schoolchildren were removed from the train, on which they intended to get to Vladivostok.
In 2015, a mother and daughter were found in Russia, who disappeared in 2001, and since 2006 were considered murdered. It turned out that the residents of Grodno decided to break off all relations with their relatives and left for a permanent place of residence in a neighboring country, without informing anyone about it.
In Russia, mother and daughter lived without registration. Identification documents were not reissued.
LOST
In 2007, two girls from the Moscow region, who attended the Young Biologist club, came to the Urals with a group of environmentalists. In the area of the reserve in the Sverdlovsk region, the girls got lost.
Children in the taiga ate berries, drank water from springs and streams, and slept on cedar branches. Wandering the forest, the girls walked tens of kilometers. The girls were prepared for survival in nature in the classroom. The children were found alive and well by a foot rescue team after more than a week of searching.
As before, no traces of Maxim Markhaliuk have been found. The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case today under Part 2 of Art. 167 Code of Criminal Procedure. Radio Svaboda has collected 10 main facts about the disappearance of a 10-year-old child:
1. Circumstances of disappearance
The first reports of the disappearance of Maxim Markhaliuk appeared on 18 September. The report said that the mother of a 10-year-old boy turned to the police and said that at about 20.00 on the evening of September 16, he rode a bicycle towards the forest near his village and disappeared.
Already at 10 pm on the same day, they began to look for Maxim - parents, fellow villagers, police officers and the Ministry of Emergency Situations. In the forest they found the boy's bicycle, a bag of mushrooms, but no more traces.
2. Where does it happen
All events take place in the village of Novy Dvor, Svisloch district, on the outskirts of Belovezhskaya Pushcha. The village council said that the house of the Markhalyuks stands on the outskirts of the village, next to the forest. About 500 meters from the house, a hut was built in the forest, where the Markhalyuks dry mushrooms.
Already on Monday, September 18, not only police officers and employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, but also teachers from his school, high school students, residents of Novy Dvor and surrounding villages, came looking for Maxim, volunteers from different cities Belarus.
3. About Markhalyukov
Maxim Markhaluk is almost 1 year old. According to the police report, he appeared to be 8 or 9 years old, wearing blue sweatpants, a brown hooded sweater, and a cherry-coloured tank top.
Mother Valentina Nikolaevna works as a technician at school, father Valery Nikolaevich is a worker at a local agricultural enterprise.
Valentina told reporters that they went around the whole neighborhood in search of Maxim both day and night, examined the swamps and abandoned houses, combed the forest, but to no avail.
Maksim's older brother Sasha (who has already graduated from a military school) said that his brother warned him: they say, he only walks along the edge of the forest and will return home. He also says that Maxim did not go far alone and did not quarrel with anyone that day.
According to Sasha, his brother could have been afraid of bison - there were many bison tracks where Maxim left his bicycle and basket.
In the first days after the disappearance of the boy, the parents turned to fortune-tellers and psychics - they allegedly said that the boy was alive.
4. Version of the search headquarters
10 days after the disappearance of Maxim Markhaliuk, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under Part 2 of Art. 167 Code of Criminal Procedure.
The article decides to initiate a case if, within 10 days after the submission of a statement about the disappearance of a person, it was not possible to find his whereabouts.
Previously, investigators did not see grounds for a criminal case. As they said, there is no reason to believe that the boy was the victim of a crime.
The main version, which was followed for ten days at the search headquarters, was that the boy got lost in the forest.
The territory of the forest is divided into squares, each of them is checked. At the headquarters they say that in search of milchik they have already covered the maximum distance that he could cover during this time.
Helicopters and drones with a thermal imager are still involved in the search. The search continues.
5. The main danger in the forest
According to the coordinator of the Angel detachment, Christina Basova, who twice went to Novy Dvor to look for Maxim, the most dangerous thing for the boy is wild animals, impenetrable swamps and weather.
“During these days we met bison, and a wolf, and wild boars, and roe deer,” says Kristina. - It was rainy, damp and cold during the week. It's all very difficult, even for a trained adult."
6. What people say
Locals say that the boy was prepared and could not just disappear into the forest. Many of them believe that bison could scare him, and admit that he is just hiding there.
True, the same locals add that similar cases had never been in their village before. They say that the village children know well where to go and where not to go. They say about Maxim that he would not go anywhere with strangers, and even more so, he would not go anywhere.
7. Large-scale search operation
The operation to search for Maxim was called the largest in Belarus.
A week after the disappearance of Maxim in Belarus, the gathering of all search and rescue teams was announced. Over the weekend, several thousand people took part in the search for the boy.
In addition to police officers, military personnel, border guards, police officers, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, people from all over Belarus, volunteers from the Smolensk region and Lithuania, came to Novy Dvor.
8. Unthinkable number of volunteers
The largest number of search engines was on weekends. According to official figures, more than 2,000 volunteers came to Novy Dvor on Saturday. Experts noted that many people had no experience at all in such operations, sometimes they simply did not know how to behave and what to do.
Nevertheless, everyone was divided into groups, each of which received its own search square.
Volunteers say they walked through the forest and swamps for 10 hours, sometimes in the rain. But no trace of Maxim was found by anyone. The coordinator of the Angel squad, Kristina Basova, despite various shortcomings in the organization, believes that the search is being carried out at the highest level.
“Yes, at the beginning there were problems and there was not even a single coordinating point where information from all search groups would flow. But in a very short time, specialists managed to streamline coordination and send people to search activities. Managed to feed people, warm and give a place to rest. Everyone participated in this. It’s just that people were actually motivated to find Maxim,” Basova said.
According to Christina, those who could not come and help in the search transferred money to the detachment's settlement account. And that, she says, is also a big help.
9. Can a child survive in the forest for that long?
Kirill Golubev, coordinator of the "Angel" detachment, who is currently coordinating work in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, says that the likelihood that the boy is alive is real. According to him, there were cases when a four-year-old child disappeared into the taiga and survived for 10 days.
“We assume the boy is still alive. The search continues, no new traces of Maxim have been found, but we believe and are looking for,” says Kirill Golubev.
The commander of the "Angel" detachment, Sergei Kovgan, said that the operation has the status of a search and rescue operation.
“The fact is that now in the forest there is especially nothing to eat. I understand that a hunter could still get food for himself, but he is not a hunter, he is only a teenager, and it is hard to imagine what he could eat,” says Kovgan.
10. Operation continues
According to official information, on September 25, over 500 people were involved in the search for Maxim. The search continues, no new traces of Maxim have been found so far.