Spouses of Persecuted Belarusian Oppositionists Address Putin :: Charter'97 :: News

Ahead of the meeting between Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg on June 11 the wives of the repressed Belarusian opposition politicians Ludmila Karpenko, Irina Krasovskaya, Svetlana Zavadskaya, Zinaida Gonchar and Olga Krasovskaya addressed the president of Russia with another open letter, in which they plead with the Russian leader to help solve the problems, associated with the investigation into their husbands’ abductions. Appeal by the women will be handed over to the leader of the Russian Union of right forces Boris Nemtsov by the chairman of the United Civil Party Anatoly Lebedko, who left for Moscow on June 4. Following comes the full text of the address:

“To the president of Russia Vladimir Putin,

Distinguished Mr.President!

We, wives of the Belarusian opposition figures, address you again with the same problem:

In 1999-2000 in Belarus there happened numerous cases of physical annihilation of the regime’s opponents;

Gennady Karpenko unexpectedly died under mysterious circumstances on April 6, 1999;

Yuri Zakharenko was abducted on May 7, 1999;

Viktor Gonchar and Anatoly Krasovsky were kidnapped on September 16, 1999;

Dmitry Zavadsky was abducted on July 7, 2000;

There emerged numerous evidence of the government’s implication in the abductions.

However, for the past three years the authorities have been unable to give a clear answer to the questions we raised over the destiny of our loved ones. We received no answer why the investigation into these scandalous cases was placed under control of those, suspected of having plotted them. We haven’t been told why the authorities denied the help of the international structures and other countries, Russia included. This also confirms the fact that the Belarusian authorities don’t want genuine investigation into the disappearances of opposition members.

We believe that only the independent investigation with the involvement of international pundits, provided all access to all testimonies, can shed light on these cases. Influential international structures, the parliaments of some neighboring states and the presidents of the democratic republics, to which we turned for help, have already upheld us in our aspirations to know the truth.

Russia – the closest neighbor and Belarus’ key ally, which may and does seriously influence the processes that are underway in Belarus, has every possibility and must truly realize the level of democracy in this country.

We are aware that in June you met with Mr.Lukashenko in Saint Petersburg in order to discuss certain issues of founding the union state. But aren’t the issues of democracy and human rights in this country crucial in building relations with it, especially taking into account the fact that they abduct opponents of the present regime there?

So we once again ask that you help us solve the issues, relating to the investigation into the disappearances of the Belarusian opposition members. We hope that this time you will support our proposal, as far as the solution of the problem, which we raise, might become a real step forward towards the democracy development in Belarus.

Regards,

Ludmila Karpenko,

Olga Zakharenko,

Zinaida Gonchar,

Irina Krasovskaya,

Svetlana Zavadskaya

June 4, 2002”