(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior Mikhaïl Udovikov, RSF expressed its concern about the disappearance of Belarusian journalist Dmitri Zavadski. “We ask that you continue your investigation and take the necessary measures to shed light on this matter quickly,” stated RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. The organisation also asked the minister to […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior Mikhaïl Udovikov, RSF expressed its concern about the disappearance of Belarusian journalist Dmitri Zavadski. “We ask that you continue your investigation and take the necessary measures to shed light on this matter quickly,” stated RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. The organisation also asked the minister to keep it informed of developments in the investigation.
According to information collected by RSF, Zavadski, a cameraman with the Russian public television station ORT, disappeared on 7 July 2000, at the Minsk airport. He had gone there to greet one of the station’s directors, Pavel Cheremet, upon the arrival of his flight. His vehicle was found in the airport parking lot.
In 1996, Zavadski left Belarusian State television to work at ORT, despite the objections of President Lukashenko. In July 1997, he was arrested with Cheremet, then ORT’s Belarusian bureau chief, while they were preparing a report about the weakness of Belarusian security measures along the border with Lithuania. He was imprisoned for three months and sentenced to a suspended two-year prison term (see IFEX alerts of 23 April 1998, 15 December, 9 September and 6 August 1997). Belarusian security services are allegedly involved in Zavadski’s disappearance, according to some of his colleagues.
