The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the outline of the case of Mr. Andrei Klimov, a member of the Thirteenth Supreme Soviet of Belarus, as contained in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/173/11(b)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 171st session (September 2002),

Recalling that on 17 March 2000 Mr. Klimov was found guilty of large-scale embezzlement and sentenced to 6 years' imprisonment in a hard labour colony and confiscation of his property; having, on 22 March 2002, been granted a commutation of his prison sentence to punitive deduction of earnings for a period of 22 months and 19 days in which 20% of his earnings would be withheld by the State, he was conditionally released on 26 December 2002, which meant that "he was excused from serving the remainder of the sentence",

Considering that, according to the information provided by the authorities on 28 March and 30 May 2003, Mr. Klimov's travel abroad has been temporarily restricted by virtue of Article 5, part 1, paragraphs 3 and 5, of the Law on the "Procedure of entry and exit of the Republic of Belarus by the country's nationals"; the authorities deem it "inexpedient for the Committee to continue to examine Mr. Klimov's case", because Mr. Klimov has not applied for a temporary visa to travel abroad,

Considering also that Mr. Klimov is now living with his family, is working in his own enterprise and is politically active; however, he has reportedly been unable to accept the many invitations to travel abroad he received after his release,

Noting that the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Legislation, Judicial and Legal Affairs of the House of Representatives conveyed to the Committee, shortly before the closure of its session, a communication and documents in Russian which could not be translated in time and thus were not studied by the Committee,

1. Thanks the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Legislation, Judicial and Legal Affairs of the House of Representatives for his consistent cooperation;

2. Requests the Committee to study the communication and documents referred to it, and to report to it at its next session to be held on the occasion of the 110th Assembly.in light of any new information they may contain;

3. Requests the Secretary General to inform the authorities and the sources accordingly.

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