Doc. 9783

10 April 2003

Disappeared persons in Belarus

Motion for a resolution

presented by Mr Pourgourides and others

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only the members who have signed it

The Assembly has been worried for two years now by the disappearances of MM Zakharenko, Gonchar, Krasovski and Zavadski and the circumstances of the death of Mr Karpenko.

      Its Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights established in September 2002 an ad hoc Sub-Committee to clarify the circumstances of disappearances for allegedly political reasons in Belarus.

      So far, in spite of the efforts undertaken by the Sub-Committee to clarify the circumstances of these disappearances, the authorities of the Republic of Belarus have failed to provide the required information. Moreover, it appears that the investigations by the Belarus authorities were not conducted in a satisfactory manner.

      Accordingly it urges the authorities of the Republic of Belarus:

- to elucidate the circumstances of the disappearances of Yuri Zakharenko, former Minister of the Interior (disappeared on 7 May 1999), Viktor Gonchar, former Vice-President of the Parliament of Belarus (disappeared on 16 September 1999), Anatoly Krasovski, businessman (disappeared with Mr Gonchar) and Dmitri Zavadski, cameraman for the Russian TV channel ORT (disappeared on 7 July 2000) and the circumstances of the death of Gennady Karpenko, former opposition leader and presidential candidate, on 6 April 2001;

- to co-operate closely with the ad hoc Sub-committee established by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights in order to clarify the circumstances of disappearances for allegedly political reasons in Belarus.

Signed (see overleaf)

Signed 1:

Pourgourides, Cyprus, EPP/CD

Clerfayt, Belgium, LDR

De Puig, Spain, SOC

Gubert, Italy, EPP/CD

Laakso, Finland, UEL

Martínez Casañ,Spain, EPP/CD

Marty, Switzerland, LDR

McNamara, United Kingdom, SOC

Pavlov, Bulgaria, NR

Prisăacaru, Romania, SOC

Škrabalo, Croatia, LDR

Tiuri, Finland, EPP/CD

Toshev, Bulgaria, EPP/CD

1        SOC: Socialist Group

      EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party

      EDG: European Democratic Group

      LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group

      UEL: Group of the Unified European Left

      NR: not registered in a group