The first Belarusian passport with "Pahonia" was received by Lukashenka, and the second - by schoolboy Yury Charniak. What was the boy's fate?
After gaining independence, Belarus continued to issue Soviet passports of the 1974 design for several years. And only in 1994, under Lukashenka, new passports with "Pahonia" were printed. They were solemnly issued by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Yury Zakharanka.
Media reported on such a significant event as the issuance of the first passports of independent Belarus. The students of Minsk school No. 37 were lucky then.
A note has been preserved stating that before the start of the new academic year, Minister of Internal Affairs Yury Zakharanka came there to hand over documents to the children. Passport number 2 (the first, of course, was received by Alexander Lukashenka, as president) was given to Yury Charniak. The boy, who was smiling happily in the photo, was only reported to be an excellent student.
What became of his life?
Yury went into academia. He graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences of BSU with a degree in Sociology – he was one of the best graduates. Then he went on to teach his subject at BSU. He also managed the student research laboratory "Socium" for some time.
Yury Charniak. Photo from his social media
In 2007, he defended his PhD thesis on the topic "Social Risks of Youth in the Republic of Belarus: A Sociological Analysis".
In 2015, he completed retraining at the Republican Institute for Higher Education in the specialty "Information-Ideological and Educational Work in Educational Institutions".
Two years later, Yury was awarded a BSU diploma for winning the competition for the best supervisor and organizer of research work for students and postgraduates.
At one time, Charniak also worked at the private BIP - University of Law and Social-Information Technologies, where he was the deputy dean of the Faculty of Economics and Law.
Yury Charniak
In 2018, he moved to the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences, becoming deputy director for scientific work.
He researched a wide variety of issues. For example, social risks of youth, discrimination of certain social groups in Belarus, and the phenomenon of patriotism in the mass consciousness of Belarusians.
In 2024, Yury suddenly passed away. He was only 46 years old at the time.