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U.S. Helsinki Commission to Host Premiere Screening of "The Gang"

Documentary Details Enforced Disappearances of Prominent Leaders in Belarus
Wednesday, December 10, 2014

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Helsinki Commission, with the participation of Freedom House and the German Marshall Fund of the United States, today announced the following event:

The Gang: 15 Years On and Still Silent
A Documentary about Enforced Disappearances in Belarus

Wednesday, December 17
5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
United States Capitol Visitor Center, Room HVC-201
First Street, SE, Washington, DC

In 1999 and 2000, during the first presidential term of Alexander Lukashenka, four prominent leaders were abducted in Belarus: Viktar Hanchar, a member of the dissolved parliament; Anatoly Krasovsky, his close associate; Yuri Zakharenka, a former Minister of the Interior; and Dmitri Zavadski, a journalist known for his critical reporting.  Each of the cases has remained under separate investigation, plagued by minimal progress and multiple inconsistencies.

Fifteen years later, as the statute of limitations is running out, a leading Belarusian human rights defender meticulously analyzes rare documentary evidence, including the testimonies of family members, lawyers, and former Belarusian investigators, to piece together a nuanced and unsettling picture that links the unsolved disappearances together. The Gang examines the complicity of senior Belarusian officials in the enforced disappearances, alongside the failure of the Belarusian authorities to properly investigate.

The premiere screening of the film is open to the public, and will be followed by a discussion with Raisa Mikhailovskaya, producer and prominent Belarusian human rights defender, and Irina Krasovskaya, co-founder of the We Remember Foundation and the widow of the disappeared businessman Anatoly Krasovsky.

Media contact: 
Name: 
Stacy Hope
Phone: 
202.225.1901
Relevant issues: 
Citizenship and Political Rights
Freedom of Association and Assembly
Freedom of Movement
Freedom of Speech and Expression
Freedom of the Media
Good Governance and the Rule of Law
Relevant countries: 
Belarus
Leadership: 
Ben Cardin
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