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Bundestag member criticizes Interpol for its role in Belarus’ investigation of 2011 Minsk subway bombing

Marieluise Beck, a member of Alliance’90/The Greens in Germany's Bundestag, has criticized the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) for its “suspicious” and “inappropriate” participation in Belarus’ investigation of the April 11, 2011 Minsk subway bombing that left 15 people dead, BelaPAN said.

Two 25-year-old men, Dzmitry Kanavalaw and Uladzislaw Kavalyow, were sentenced to death in the case and executed in mid-March.

The guilt of the young men was not proven in accordance with legal criteria, Ms. Beck says in a statement.

She notes that on May 12, 2011, Interpol chief Ronald Noble cut short his participation in Interpol's European Regional Conference in Malta to meet with Anatol Kulyashow, the then interior minister of Belarus, in Minsk. While the international community was united in the opinion that the produced evidence, obtained by torture, was doubtful, Mr. Noble “found nothing better than to approve those scandalous actions and praise Minsk investigators for their high professionalism,” Ms. Beck says.

“While the Council of Europe severely criticized the execution of Dzmitry Kanavalaw and Uladzislaw Kavalyow, Lukashenka could boast that Interpol had closely followed the investigation,” the statement says. “In addition, in August this year, Interpol said that there was no doubt about the evidence brought against the accused.”

Following his meeting with General Kulyashow in April 2011, Mr. Noble told reporters in Minsk that he was able to independently confirm that “four of the finger marks of the person that committed the terrorist attack on July 4, 2008 [bomb explosion during an Independence Day concert in Minsk] match the fingerprints of the person who has been arrested for the terrorist attack that occurred on April 11." He noted that fingerprints of the suspect had been released to Interpol a day after the 2008 explosion, and that an image of the suspect had been available within 24 hours of the subway bombing.

Belarus was ready to share its information about the subway blast with the delegates to Interpol's European Regional Conference in Malta, but a "political decision" was made to bar Belarusian Deputy Interior Minister Aleh Pyakarski from attending it, Mr. Noble said.

The Belarusian interior minister expressed gratitude to Mr. Noble for cutting short his participation in the conference to visit Belarus. “This is evidence that you, as the Interpol secretary general, do not mix political aspects with the authoritative criminal police organization," Mr. Kulyashow said.

According to an Interpol spokesperson, Secretary General Noble “concluded that the Belarusian criminal investigation was professionally conducted, and that the arrests of Dzmitry Kanavalaw and Uladzislaw Kavalyow solved the case of who was criminally responsible for the bombing.”