Authorities ignore complaint by family of missing person
16 November was the deadline for the Belarusian authorities to provide their comments on the complaint submitted to the UN Human Rights Committee by the family of the disappeared Anatol Krasouski. The complaint submitted by Iryna and Valerya Krasouskis was registered by the Committee on 16 November 2008, its copy being sent to the respondent, www.ciwr.org reports.
The Belarusian authorities were initially to respond to the complaint by 16 May 2009. However, they demanded translating the document in Russian, instead, and thus received 6 more months for providing their comments. As yet, there is no reply to the complaint. Under the existing procedures of the UN Human Rights Committee, in case the respondent state fails to reply to the claimant’s complaint in due time, a note is sent to it. In case the respondent ignores the note, the case is considered with no respect for its opinion.
The Krasouskis’ complaint was drawn up by a Dutch legal advice agency and is made up of 100 items and 25 supplementary documents of more than 1,000 pages in total.
On their behalf, as well as on behalf of Anatol Krasouski, who disappeared on 16 September 1999, Iryna and Valerya Krasouskis call upon the Belarusian authorities to 1) promptly interrogate suspects in the case of the forced disappearance of Anatol Krasouski mentioned in Christos Purgurides’ special report, 2) meet the numerous demands by Anatol Krasouski’s family and the international community by conducting a thorough investigation in his disappearance, 3) identify and announce Anatol Krasouski’s burial ground, 4) compensate moral and material damage to the victims of Anatol Krasouski’s forced disappearance.
The complaint claims that the Belarusian authorities violated Articles 6, 7, 9 and 10 of the International on Civil and Political Rights. The complaint was submitted in accordance with the Optional Protocol to the Covenant, which is the last and one of the few international treaties signed by the Republic of Belarus, thus obliging it to be liable for crimes against its own citizens.
