The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of Mr. Victor Gonchar, a member of the Thirteenth Supreme Soviet of Belarus, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/178/12(b) R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 177th session (October 2005),

Referring to the case of Mr. Victor Gonchar, a member of the Thirteenth Supreme Soviet of Belarus, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/179/11(a)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 178th session (May 2006),

Taking account of the hearing the Committee held with Mr. Cherginets, a member of the Belarusian delegation, during the 115th IPU Assembly (October 2006),

Recalling that Mr. Gonchar disappeared together with his friend Anatoly Krasovsky on 16 September 1999 and has not reappeared since; an investigation was launched and the parliamentary authorities have consistently reported that all available leads have been followed, even those suggested by newspaper reports and other sources; however, the authorities have rejected as totally unfounded the detailed information contained in the report on disappearances for allegedly political reasons in Belarus, published by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in February 2004 (Pourgourides report),

Considering the following information and observations provided by Mr. Cherginets: the investigation into Mr. Gonchar's and Mr. Krasovsky's disappearance is still under way and parliament continues to monitor it; in particular, it receives reports from the Prosecutor General, most recently in May 2006 and on 2 October 2006 during parliament's opening session, when the report was largely devoted to the search for disappeared persons; neither political nor economic or personal grounds of the disappearance have been ruled out so far; Mr. Gonchar and Mr. Krasovsky were clearly abducted but it is not clear whether the target was Mr. Gonchar or Mr. Krasovsky; the latter had business-related problems and his wife, now living in the United States, has refused to appear for investigation; the information contained in the PACE report was verified by the Prosecutor but found to be wrong; he has asked the author of the report, Mr. Pourgourides, to share information, but Mr. Pourgourides has never answered his letters; the investigation is hampered by the fact that new allegations are constantly made as to the persons possibly behind the disappearance; in his personal opinion, Mr. Gonchar is dead,

Noting further that Mr. Cherginets referred to the cases of two other disappeared persons, Ms. Vinnikova, the former President of the National Bank of Belarus who had disappeared and later reappeared in London, and Mr. Baturin, who had also disappeared and later reappeared in Washington, noting also that Mr. Cherginets provided a set of documents regarding the investigation,

Considering lastly that, according to an interview of Mr. Gonchar's wife on 15 September 2006 and published in the Narodnaya Volya newspaper, the investigating judge, Mr. Koukharenok, informs her regularly that the investigation is still under way but not of the specific actions that are being taken and, unlike the former investigating judge, has refused to meet her,

1. Thanks Mr. Cherginets for the information he provided and for his personal interest in this case;

2. Deplores the fact that, seven years after Mr. Gonchar's disappearance, no progress whatsoever has been made in the investigation; states firmly that any suggestion that Mr. Gonchar may in fact be somewhere abroad is implausible since the persons whom the authorities regularly mention in this respect have reappeared whereas Mr. Gonchar has not;

3. Is gratified that parliament is being regularly briefed about the investigation, but wonders whether any questions are asked and whether anyone else, such as Mr. Gonchar's wife, is invited to address the parliament or one of its committees in this respect;

4. Notes that Mr. Cherginets has provided a set of documents concerning the investigation, which need translating;

5. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case in the light of these documents and report to it at its next session, to be held on the occasion of the 116th Assembly (April-May 2007).

Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the 115th IPU Assembly and related meetings in PDF format (file size 493K approximately ). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.

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