Council of Europe to Gather All Information On Abductions In Belarus :: Charter'97 :: News

The subject of politically motivated abductions in Belarus has become the central one at the today’s session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Almost every speaker at the PACE session told touched upon the fate of the politicians and a journalist abducted in Belarus. The head of the Human Rights Sub-Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the author of the report “Missing People in Belarus” Christos Pourgourides told about his intention to gather all information about the abductions of political activists and a journalist in Belarus. Christos Pourgourides urged everybody having any information concerning disappearances of the former Interior Minister Yury Zakharanka, vice-prime minister Viktar Hanchar, a businessman and public figure Anatol Krasouski and a journalist Zmitser Zavadsky, forward it to him.

The PACE resolution on situation in Belarus adopted today also notes a necessity of carrying out an independent investigation of opposition leaders and a journalist’s abductions in Belarus. The document mentions that the last resolution of the PACE has contained this demand; however the Belarusian authorities have not fulfilled it.