On the 21st of October 2009 The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union anonymously adopted a resolution concerning the case of the disappearance of Victor Gonchar and Anatoly Krasovsky.

In this resolution the IPU Governing Council refers to the interview of Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko published in the Russian newspaper Zavtra where he claims that disappearances of Victor Gonchar and Anatoly Krasovsky are “murders for business reasons; they had to buy or sell something and failed to stick to their promises, so they were killed, as is usual in ‘half-bandit’ circles; traces of a murderer have recently been found in Germany”.

The IPU recalls that "The investigation into the disappearance, on 16 September 1999, of Mr. Victor Gonchar and his friend Anatoly Krasovsky has yielded no result and the authorities have consistently refuted the conclusions of a report by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe into disappearances for allegedly political reasons in Belarus (Pourgourides report), which provided evidence linking senior officials to the disappearance of Mr. Gonchar and Mr. Krasovsky".

Among other, the IPU:

"Deplores the fact that more than 10 years have now elapsed since the disappearance of Mr. Gonchar and Mr. Krasovsky without the Belarusian authorities having been able to elucidate their fate; and regrets that they have failed to provide convincing evidence to refute the findings of the Pourgourides report;

Notes with interest President Lukashenko’s statement, as quoted above, and would appreciate receiving information as to the evidence that enabled him to make that statement, particularly since earlier allegations that business motives were behind the disappearance seemed to have not been substantiated;

Assumes that this evidence is also in the possession of the investigator and can be shared with the families of the victims; is concerned in this respect that the new investigator is said to have refused to meet with Mrs. Gonchar; would appreciate information as to the grounds for that refusal; wishes also to ascertain the current stage of the investigation."

The full text of the resolution.

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