International Federation for Human Rights to demand the Belarusian government to investigate political disappearances

04.09.2008. Tags: FIDH, political disappearances, human rights defenders, elections-2008.
Source: Charter`97.

‘Opinion of people should come first in democratic countries. If election is undemocratic, people have the right to protest in the streets,’ Secretary General of the International Federation of Human Rights Luis Guillermo Perez told in an interview to the Charter’97 press center.

According to the FIDH secretary general, ‘the authorities ignoring the opinion of the people and allowing falsification of elections are illegitimate’.

The human rights defender said if the Belarusian government uses force during peaceful protests, he will insist on extension of sanctions on the Belarusian regime.

‘If there is no fair and honest election in Belarus, people take to streets and force is used against them, I, being a Secretary General of the International Federation of Human Rights, will insist that the European Union and the UN extend sanctions against the Belarusian regime,’ Luis Guillermo Perez told in an interview to the Charter’97 press center.

Bear in mind that on 2 September the FIDH secretary general presented a report on incarceration conditions in Belarus. The report includes facts of inhuman treatment and tortures in Belarusian prisons and militia departments.

It is concluded in the report that ‘conditions of detention in Belarus are extremely unsatisfactory, and amount to forms of inhuman treatment, prohibited by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.’

The International Federation of Human Rights has called upon countries of the world to refrain from extradition of convicted to Belarus. The FIDH will also demand the Belarusian authorities to investigate high-profiled disappearances.

‘We want you to understand that we will demand the Belarusian government to investigate disappearances of Yury Zakharanka, Viktar Hanchar, Anatol Krasouski, and Zmitser Zavadski. We express our support to the families of these people, their friends and associates and want to stress again that we will keep a close eye on investigation of these crimes,’ the FIDH secretary general said.

‘We want that the Belarusian authorities understand these crimes don’t refer to the past. Until bodies of the disappeared people or these people themselves are found, this crime will be topical. Inactivity of the authorities in regard to investigation and their non-interference mean that there is a group of people close to the authorities who were involved in this,’ Mr. Perez said.

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