CASE No - Inter-Parliamentary Union

- 35 - CL/183/SR.1
Ocampo, which were still pending. Given the political motivation behind the previous
rebellion charges against the parliamentarians, the Committee feared that all the proceedings
were part of an ongoing effort of the Government to remove them and their political parties
from the democratic political process.
The Governing Council unanimously adopted the draft resolution relating to the
case of Mr. Crispin Beltrán, Mr. Saturnino Ocampo, Mr. Teodoro Casiño, Ms. Liza Maza
and Mr. Rafael Mariano, which had been submitted to it by the Committee on the Human
Rights of Parliamentarians. 16
Rwanda
Mr. Leonard Hitimana had disappeared in April 2003, and had not yet been found. The
authorities had always affirmed that he had left the country and that they would be able to
locate him abroad. That had not been the case, and the Committee was therefore concerned
that Mr. Hitimana had been the victim of an enforced disappearance. The Committee would
raise the issue with the newly elected authorities in the hope that they would take the
necessary actions to determine what had happened to him.
The Governing Council unanimously adopted the draft resolutions relating to the
case of Mr. Leonard Hitimana, which had been submitted to it by the Committee on the
Human Rights of Parliamentarians. 17
Sri Lanka
Document CL/183/12(b)-R.2 contained the Committee’s report on mission to Sri Lanka
and the observations of the authorities. In the seven months since the mission there had been
some positive developments. A person suspected of the car bomb attack against
Mr. Dissanayake had been identified, and an indictment had been filed in the case of the
murder of Mr. Maheswaran. No progress had been made in the case of Mr. Joseph
Pararajasingham, who had been shot dead while attending Christmas midnight mass in 2005,
and no progress had been made in the investigations into the death threats and attacks on
parliamentarians belonging to the Tamil National Alliance. The Committee was concerned at
the growing climate of intimidation and fear, which was making the life of opposition
parliamentarians increasingly difficult. The Committee believed that even in troubled
situations, freedom of expression and respect for the rule of law must be upheld, and that the
best deterrent against violence against members of parliament and the community at large was
to combat impunity. The Committee urged the authorities to take firm action to that end.
Freedom of expression and the right to a fair and impartial trial were at the heart of the
case of D.M.S.B. Dissanayake, who had criticizes an advisory opinion of the Supreme Court
in 2003, and one year later had been convicted of contempt of court and sentenced to two
years’ imprisonment. He had lost his parliamentary mandate and been disqualified from
voting or standing for election for seven years. The Human Rights Committee of the United
Nations had found a violation of his rights to liberty, freedom of expression and to participate
in elections. The Committee urged the authorities to restore his right to vote, and to be
elected as recommended by the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations.
The Governing Council unanimously adopted the draft resolution relating to the
case of 17 parliamentarians, which had been submitted to it by the Committee on the
Human Rights of Parliamentarians. 18
16 See Annex XXX for the text of the resolution.
17 See Annex XXXI for the text of the resolution.