E/CN.4/2005/6/Add.3 page 6 Introduction 1. The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention visited the Republic of Belarus from 16 to 26 August 2004 at the invitation of the Government. The original invitation was communicated on 20 August 1999 before the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights by the former Deputy Permanent Representative of Belarus to the United Nations Office at Geneva, Mr. S. Mikhnevich. A negotiated Chairperson’s statement made at the Sub-Commission’s fifty-first session indicated the willingness of the Government of Belarus to facilitate a visit by the Working Group. The delegation consisted of Ms. Leïla Zerrougui, Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group and head of the delegation and Ms. Soledad Villagra de Biedermann, a member of the Working Group. The delegation was accompanied by the Secretary of the Working Group, an official from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and two interpreters from the United Nations Office at Geneva. 2. The visit included the capital, Minsk, and the cities of Grodno, Gomel, Lida, Mozyr and Vitebsk. During its visit, the delegation met with various officials and with representatives of national and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), former detainees, relatives of persons in detention and other individuals. It was able to visit 15 detention centres and other facilities, and had meetings, in private and without witnesses, with more than 200 detainees. 3. The Working Group would like to express its gratitude to the Government of the Republic of Belarus, particularly to the Ministries of Internal Affairs and of Foreign Affairs; to the United Nations Development Programme, which helped draw up and carry out the programme of the visit, and to the Belarusian NGOs and individuals concerned. I. PROGRAMME OF THE VISIT 4. The Working Group was able to visit the following detention centres and facilities: in the capital, the Minsk Pre-Trial Detention Centre No. 1 (Volodarskogo Street); the Correctional Colony-Reformative Settlement No. 1 (Kalvarijskaya Street); the Administrative Reception, Detention and Distribution Centre (B. Okrestina Street) and the State Clinical Mental Hospital. In Lida, the Working Group visited the Special Reception Centre; in the Grodno region, the Investigation Pre-Trial Detention Centre, the Peskavsty Free Settlement and the border guards’ facilities; in Gomel, the Investigation Pre-Trial Detention Centre and the Women’s Correction Colony-Reformative Settlement No. 4; in Mozyr, the Men’s Correctional Colony No. 15/20 and the City Police Station; and in Vitebsk, the Investigation Pre-Trial Detention Centre No. 2, the Educational Colony for Minor Offenders No. 3, and the Migrant Residence Centre. 5. The Working Group met in Minsk with the Minister for Foreign Affairs; the Minister for Internal Affairs and with high officials of both Ministries and of the Ministry of Justice; the Chairman of the Committee on Legislation, Judicial and Legal Issues of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly; the Chairmen of the Supreme Court of Justice and of the Military Court; the Deputy Prosecutor General; members of the State Security Committee (KGB); the chairperson of the National Bar Association; and authorities of the State Police, the penitentiary administration, border guards, and with judges, prosecutors, lawyers and officers working at national, regional and district levels.