Recommendation 1657 (2004)1
Disappeared
persons in Belarus
1. The Parliamentary Assembly refers to its Resolution
1371
(2004) on disappeared
persons in Belarus, and recommends that the Committee of Ministers:
i. request
the competent Belarusian authorities:
a.
to 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;
b.
to initiate criminal
investigations with a view to clarifying, and punishing, as the case may
be:
– the alleged
involvement of the current General Prosecutor (previously Head of the
Security Council), Mr Sheyman, the current 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;
– 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.
ii. consider suspending the participation of Belarus in
various Council of Europe agreements and activities, as well as any contacts
between the Council of Europe and the Belarusian Government on a political
level, until sufficient progress has been made regarding the request under
paragraph 1.i above and, meanwhile, to step up its co-operation with civil
society in Belarus with a view to promoting respect for human rights;
iii. invite its member and Observer states:
a.
to apply political
pressure (including sanctions) on the Belarusian Government in order to
send it a strong signal that impunity for enforced disappearances is not
tolerated by the international community; and
b.
to continue protecting, to
the best of their ability, those women and men in Belarus who are working
for the establishment of the truth.
2. The Assembly urges the member states of the Council of
Europe and the international community as a whole to exert maximum political
pressure on the current leadership of Belarus, including through sanctions,
until a credible, independent investigation of the alleged involvement of
high-ranking officials in the disappearances, or their cover-up, has been
carried out.
3. It invites, in particular, the judicial authorities of those
countries whose domestic laws give their national courts international
jurisdiction for cases of serious human rights abuses, either in
general, or in the presence of certain territorial links, to begin proceedings
against certain high-ranking Belarusian officials for the alleged murder, for
political reasons, of one or more of the four disappeared persons, as cited in
its Resolution 1371 (2004).
1.
Assembly debate
on 28 April
2004 (12th Sitting) (see Doc.10062,
report of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, rapporteur: Mr
Pourgourides).
Text adopted by the Assembly on 28 April 2004 (12th Sitting).
