Irina Krasovskaya of We Remember, Belarus
"It is my moral obligation to my husband, my family, my daughters and grandchildren, but also to the people of Belarus, to continue searching for the truth behind the disappearance of my husband and at the same time to fight for a free Belarus." This is Irina Krasovskaya, co-founder of civil initiative We Remember.
On September 16, 1999 opposition leader Viktor Gonchar disappeared together with Irina's husband Anatoly Krasovsky. Anatoly Krasovsky is a prominent businessman who supports the opposition movement. "As long as we have a dictatorship in Belarus, as we have now with the government of Lukashenko, we will never learn the truth."
Finding out the truth
In the year 2000 Irina started the civil initiative We Remember, together with Svetlana Zavadskaya, wife of the disappeared cameraman Dmitry Zavadskaya. "When we started the purpose of the initiative was to find out the truth about 4 disappearances in Belarus. We want the people inside and outside Belarus to know what is going on and we wanted to get international support to investigate the cases."
Worldwide problem
"First we were so depressed and destroyed. Then we found out that we were not alone, that forced disappearances are a huge problem worldwide. In 2001 we came into contact with Aim for human rights who introduced us to other organisations of family members. We could share our pain, learn from others how to search for the truth."
Fighting against disappearances
"Gradually we expanded our activities to fight for justice and freedom and to promote democracy in Belarus. We care for political prisoners and investigate human rights abuses in Belarus. Furthermore, we are, together with Aim for human rights, active in the International Coalition against Forced Dissappearances (ICAED) and we campaign for the UN Convention against disappearances. It is important that countries ratify this convention because only then it will become an international mechanism to protect people against forced disappearances.
I don't want anybody else to go through the tragedy I have and I hope that one day we can create a world without disappearances."
