Freimut Duve: What Happened to Dmitri Zavadsky?

VIENNA, 8 July 2002 - July 7, 2002 marks the second anniversary of the disappearance at Minsk airport of the young Belarusian cameraman, Dmitri Zavadsky, who was working at the time for the Russian television channel, ORT.

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Freimut Duve, sympathizes with the family and friends of Mr. Zavadsky, and he once again expresses his dismay that, after two years, many questions about the missing journalist have gone unanswered.

Although earlier this year, a Minsk District Court convicted two former agents of a Ministry of Interior special forces unit of kidnapping Dmitri Zavadsky, he has not been found and there are few credible details about the abduction.

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media calls upon the Belarusian authorities to permit an independent inquiry to conclusively identify all responsible parties involved in the disappearance of Dmitri Zavadsky.