1. The Parliamentary Assembly has been
concerned for over two years by the disappearances of Yuri
Zakharenko, former Minister of the Interior (disappeared
on 7 May 1999), Victor Gonchar, former Vice-President of
the Parliament of Belarus (disappeared on 16 September 1999),
Anatoly Krasovski, businessman (disappeared at the same
time as Mr Gonchar), and Dmitri Zavadski, cameraman for
the Russian television channel ORT (disappeared on 7 July
2000).
2. Allegations made in public that these disappearances
were politically motivated led to an ad hoc sub-committee
of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights being
set up in September 2002, and to a motion for a resolution
in April 2003. The Assembly commends the ad hoc sub-committee
and the rapporteur for their thorough work under difficult
circumstances.
3. The Belarusian authorities refused to allow
the ad hoc sub-committee to visit Minsk in order to meet
with persons who could not, or would not, come to Strasbourg,
and they cancelled a second round of meetings requested
by the rapporteur after they found out about his preliminary
findings by intercepting confidential communications between
the Secretariat and his contacts in Minsk. The Assembly
particularly and strongly protests against the refusal of
the Belarusian authorities to invite Mr S. Kovalev and the
ad hoc sub-committee presided by him to Minsk.
4. The Assembly expresses its respect for
those Belarusian officials and human rights defenders who
have sacrificed their careers and taken risks, even putting
their personal safety on the line, in order to advance the
cause of truth.
5. It thanks those countries who granted protection
and asylum to a number of such officials, including the
Russian Federation, the United States of America, Germany
and Norway, and seizes this opportunity to recall the importance
of the practical availability of political asylum as a last
resort to protect defenders of human rights and democracy.
6. The Assembly recalls Article 1, paragraph
1, of the 1992 United Nations Declaration on the Protection
of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, which states
that “Any act of enforced disappearance is an offence to
human dignity. It is condemned as a denial of the purposes
of the Charter of the United Nations and as a grave and
flagrant violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms
proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”,
and Article 13, paragraph 6, of the declaration, which calls
for investigations to be continued “as long as the fate
of the victim of enforced disappearance remains unclarified”.
7. It notes that the United Nations Commission
on Human Rights in Article 2 of its Resolution 2003/14,
adopted on 17 April 2003, urged the Government of Belarus:
a. To dismiss or suspend from their duties
law enforcement officers implicated in forced disappearances
and/or summary executions, pending an impartial, credible
and full investigation of those cases;
b. To ensure that all necessary measures
are taken to investigate fully and impartially all cases
of forced disappearance, summary execution and torture and
that perpetrators are brought to justice before an independent
tribunal and, if found guilty, punished in a manner consistent
with the international human rights obligations of Belarus”.
8. The Assembly considers it an unacceptable
conflict of interest that a person who has been accused
of masterminding serious crimes should subsequently be put
in charge, as General Prosecutor, of the official investigation
of the said crimes. Under the circumstances, the Assembly
strongly condemns this appointment.
9. On the basis of the solid results of the
rapporteur’s work, which separates mere rumours from facts
established by evidence or well-founded conclusions, the
Assembly concludes that a proper investigation of the disappearances
has not been carried out by the competent Belarusian authorities.
On the contrary, the information gathered by the rapporteur
leads it to believe that steps were taken at the highest
level of the state to actively cover up the true circumstances
of the disappearances, and to suspect that senior officials
of the state may themselves be involved in these disappearances.
10. The Assembly therefore requests that
the Belarusian executive authorities:
i. launch a truly independent investigation into the above-mentioned
disappearances by the competent national authorities, after
the resignation of the current General Prosecutor, Mr Sheyman,
who has been accused of having himself orchestrated the
disappearances in his previous function, and to keep the
families of the missing persons fully informed of the progress
and results of this investigation. The Council of Europe
is ready to provide all possible assistance in such an investigation;
ii. initiate criminal investigations with a view to clarifying,
and punishing, as the case may be:
a. the alleged involvement of the current
General Prosecutor, Mr Sheyman, the currrent Minister for
Sports and Tourism (previously Minister of the Interior),
Mr Sivakov, and a high-ranking officer of the special forces,
Mr Pavlichenko, in these disappearances; and
b. the crime of perversion of the course
of justice possibly committed by certain other high-ranking
officials who have been involved in the investigations carried
out so far and who may have falsified, dissimulated or destroyed
evidence in their possession in order to protect the true
perpetrators of the crimes.
11. The Assembly further invites the Belarusian
Parliament:
i. to establish a parliamentary committee
of inquiry, complete with proper investigatory resources
at its disposal;
ii. to take the necessary steps with regard
to the executive to ensure that the action requested under
paragraph 10 above is fulfilled, including demanding the
resignation of certain high-ranking officials accused of
being involved in the disappearances, in order to allow
a truly independent investigation.
12. Until substantial progress is made regarding
its demands under paragraphs 10 and 11 above, the Assembly
does not consider it appropriate to reconsider the suspension
of Special Guest status in favour of the Belarusian Parliament,
as decided by the Bureau on 13 January 1997. As long as
no substantial progress is made as regards paragraph 11
above, the Assembly considers inappropriate the presence,
even informal, of Belarusian parliamentarians during its
sessions.
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