Skip to main content

'Don't kill my son. He is not guilty of bombing the metro'

Dmitry Konovalov
and Vladislav Kovalyov
The mother of a man condemned to death tells Shaun Walker in Minsk of her desperate fight for a reprieve

There is only one person who can stop the execution of Lyubov Kovalyova's 25-year-old son, Vladislav. Unfortunately for her, it is Alexander Lukashenko, the ruthless dictator who has ruled Belarus since 1994. He is not known for his compassion.

Ms Kovalyova spoke to The Independent in Minsk yesterday, before delivering a letter to Mr Lukashenko begging him to pardon her son, who was sentenced to death on Wednesday for alleged involvement in an April bomb attack on the Minsk metro system that killed 15 people. The court ruled he knew that his friend Dmitry Konovalov, also 25, was planning the attack and helped him to prepare, instead of reporting him to the authorities.

"The court case was purely symbolic, everything had already been decided," said Ms Kovalyova, wiping away tears as she perched on a chair in a Minsk apartment belonging to friends. "I can state with absolute certainly that my boy is innocent."

Konovalov was also given the death penalty, in a case so flawed there were howls of sarcastic laughter from the public gallery as the judge read his verdict. Belarus is the only country in Europe to retain the death penalty, and both men will be executed with a single bullet to the back of the head, unless Mr Lukashenko intervenes to grant clemency. After he publicly stated that the two should receive "the strictest punishment" before the court had even delivered a verdict, hopes that he will show compassion appear forlorn, but rights activists are praying that international pressure may help.

Ms Kovalyova was wearing a bright purple jumper and stripy green socks yesterday, perhaps to offset the sadness of her mood. But the worry lines on her tired face and the sorrow in her eyes were testament to the amount of distress that this 46-year-old woman has suffered in recent weeks, culminating in Wednesday's sentence. She says the judge "twisted" the evidence in the case beyond recognition, an observation backed up by independent observers. "There are so many things I would like to say to that judge," says Ms Kovalyova, with a deep sigh. "But I can't. My son is a hostage." The entire case was based on confessions given during the investigation, but Konovalov recanted in court and said he was pressured to sign. Konovalov remained silent during the entire three-month trial, simply staring blankly into the middle distance. His father and brother were also detained, and were accompanied to court by a security detail. They declined to offer any evidence. "They were put under huge pressure not to come out in support of their own son," says Ms Kovalyova. She says the Konovalovs' house, next to her own, is always under surveillance, and that the family is too scared to talk to her.

Ms Kovalyova is a single mother from Vitebsk, a small town in eastern Belarus. Vladislav lived at home until 2010, when he moved to Minsk to make a career as an electrician. "He was a quiet boy, never got into trouble, never had a bad word to say about anyone," she recalls. He was arrested immediately after the bomb blast together with Konovalov, who rights activists believe may have been tortured into confessing.

Ms Kovalyova says that Vladislav's state-appointed lawyer refused to meet with her, and when she approached other lawyers, they were too scared to take on the case. Eventually she found a young lawyer on the internet who was brave enough to argue for the defence, but he was given hardly any access to Vladislav. Ms Kovalyova has been allowed just one meeting with her son since April. She has been able to see him only from afar in the courtroom, when he was padlocked into a metal cage.

At midday yesterday, Ms Kovalyova, her 23-year-old daughter Tatyana, and a small group of well-wishers and journalists set off to deliver her petition to the Presidential Administration. But even handing over the letter was not possible without an appearance from the omnipresent KGB, the feared security service which has kept its Soviet-era initials. Half a dozen black-clad plain-clothed agents materialised and said it was illegal to conduct interviews in a public place. A girl in knee-high shiny white boots walked among those present and pointed a hand-held video camera in their faces. "She's my employee," said one of the KGB men. "We'll have a record of everyone who was here."

It was a chilling reminder that in Belarus, anyone who stands up for a victim can become a victim themselves, as evidenced by the recent jailing on spurious tax-evasion charges of a leading rights activist, who had in turn campaigned for the release of opposition politicians still held in jail.

In the end, Ms Kovalyova delivered the letter and now begins a nerve-racking wait to see if Mr Lukashenko will spare her son's life. "I appeal to you... to show clemency to my only son," reads her appeal. "I beg you to save my son. You are the only person who can do so."

Source: Belfast Telegraph, December 2, 2011


Two Men In Belarus At Risk Of Execution

The Belarusian authorities must not execute Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzslau Kavalyou, who were sentenced to death on 30 November, following a trial that has failed to meet international fair trial standards.

Dzmitry Kanavalau has been found guilty of committing terrorist attacks and producing explosives, in connection with a series of bomb attacks in Belarus, most recently in Minsk on 11 April. Uladzslau Kavalyou was found guilty of assisting him and failing to inform the authorities.

The two men's sentences were passed by the Supreme Court of Belarus. The only possibility for further appeal is for the families of the two men to ask the President for clemency, within ten days of the sentence being passed. If the clemency appeals are rejected, Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzslau Kavalyou may be executed just minutes after the President's decision is confirmed.

Amnesty International has serious concerns over the fairness of the trial. Uladzslau Kavalyou retracted his confession during the trial, claiming it was obtained under pressure. He said that during his interrogation, the investigator threatened to shoot him. He also claimed that he could hear Dzmitry Kanavalau screaming in another room. Uladzslau Kavalyou's mother has said that both men were beaten during interrogation.

The swiftness of Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzslau Kavalyou's arrest has also led to skepticism about the investigation. They were detained the day after the explosion, on 12 April. Violating their right to the presumption of innocence, the President declared that two men had confessed to the attack before they were even interrogated.

There is no forensic evidence linking either Dzmitry Kanavalau or Uladzslau Kavalyou to the explosion and no traces of explosives were found on either of them. Experts concluded that it would not have been possible for them to prepare the explosives in the basement in which they are accused of having done so.

Official statements claimed they were detained on the basis of security camera footage, which the prosecution relied on heavily during the trial. However, the security footage was only seized days after their detention and the defense lawyer claimed it had been clearly tampered with.

Please write immediately in Russian, Belarusian or your own language:

- Calling on President Lukashenka to grant clemency to Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzslau Kavalyou;

- Expressing your serious concerns about the allegations that torture and other ill-treatment were used to obtain confessions from Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzslau Kavalyou and calling on the Belarusian authorities to open an investigation into allegations that Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzslau Kavalyou were tortured or ill-treated;

- Calling for Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzslau Kavalyou to be re-tried in proceedings which comply with international fair trial standards, especially with regard to his right to effective legal counsel;

- Calling on President Lukashenka to establish an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty, in line with UN General Assembly resolution 63/168, adopted on 18 December 2008.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 13 JANUARY 2012 TO:

President
Alyaksandr Lukashenka
ul. Karla Marxa 38
220016 Minsk
BELARUS
Fax: 011 375 17 226 06 10 or 011 375 17 222 38 72
Salutation: Dear President

General Prosecutor
Alyaksandr Koniuk
Internatsionalnaya str. 22
220050 Minsk
BELARUS
Fax: 011 375 17 226 42 52
Salutation: Dear General Prosecutor

There is a possibility that the fax numbers could sporadically be blocked. If so, please use email addresses instead.

Also send copies to:

Ambassador Oleg Kravchenko
Embassy of the Republic of Belarus
1619 New Hampshire Ave NW
Washington DC 20009
Fax: 1 202 986 1805

Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if sending appeals after the above date.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The case of Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzslau Kavalyou has been very high profile within Belarus, following the shock that filled the country after the 11 April explosion in which 15 people died and hundreds were injured.

There has been increasing public criticism about the swiftness and nature of the investigation and trial, as both Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzslau Kavalyou were detained within hours of the incident and the trial has failed meet international fair trial standards on a number of levels.

In a survey carried out in September by the Lithuanian Independent Institute of socio-political and economic research, only 21.2 per cent of Belarusians believed that the April explosion in Minsk was carried out by "a lone terrorist and his accomplice", 32.4 per cent believed that the crime was carried out under orders and 36.7 per cent were sure that "the crime was committed by other people."

In an unprecedented show of public skepticism in Belarus, a petition against the anticipated execution Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzslau Kavalyou was started in the country. It has already been signed by over 50,000 people.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Belarus remains the only country in Europe and the former Soviet Union which still carries out executions. The use of the death penalty is compounded by a flawed justice system and the secrecy surrounding its application which means that prisoners and family members are not informed in advance and may not be informed until months after the execution has taken place.

Belarus is the last country in Europe and the former Soviet Union which still carries out executions. Amnesty International condemns the Belarusian authorities' continued use of the death penalty. Despite public statements regarding its intention to move towards abolition, the Belarusian government continues to issue death sentences and execute prisoners. Two men were executed in 2010 and at least one man in 2011.

In Belarus, condemned prisoners are given no warning that they are about to be executed, and they are usually executed within minutes of being told that their appeal for clemency has been rejected. They are first taken to a room where, in the presence of the Director of the detention facility, the Prosecutor and one other Ministry of Interior employee, they are told that their appeal for clemency has been turned down and that the sentence will be carried out. They are then taken to a neighboring room where they are forced to their knees and shot in the back of the head. Their families will only be informed days or sometimes months after the execution that their relative has been executed.

Source: Amnesty International, December 2, 2011
Labels:
Location: Belarus

Comments

Post a Comment

Offensive pro-DP comments will not be published.

Most viewed (Last 7 days)

USA | What happens in the final weeks before an execution? These reporters were inside the room.

The journalists behind ‘The Last 12 Weeks’ earned extraordinary access to a death penalty defense team—and faced difficult ethical choices Many defense lawyers are naturally cagey. They work in a pressure cooker, protecting their clients’ rights while fighting for the best possible outcome. And arguably, the stakes can’t get any higher than trying to save a client’s life. So no, defense lawyers don’t usually invite journalists into strategy meetings. But that’s what happened when Marshall Project reporter Maurice Chammah and Serial Productions senior producer Alvin Melathe spent the final few months before a Texas execution embedded with a capital defense team.
Post a Comment
Read more

North Korea | 'I was only 9': North Korean defector recalls childhood memory of public execution

Kim Eun-joo was 9 years old when her teacher stopped their lesson and told the class to follow her outside. The children were marched to a public execution ground in North Korea. “I would cry even when our family dog died,” Kim said in a recent interview with The Korea Times. “But the first time I watched humans killing a human, I had no words for what I was feeling. It was the most brutal scene I have ever seen, in any movie or in real life.” The memory has stayed with her ever since. Now a human rights advocate after defecting from North Korea, Kim recently brought that childhood scene to the 9th World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Paris, where North Korea’s use of public executions and capital punishment was officially placed on the agenda for the first time.
Post a Comment
Read more

19 July 1943 | Auschwitz's Largest Public Hanging: 12 Polish Prisoners Executed in Escape Reprisal

OSWIECIM, Poland — The SS carried out the largest public hanging in Auschwitz history on July 19, 1943, executing 12 Polish prisoners before other inmates as collective punishment for escapes and civilian contacts. The victims, all from the camp’s surveyors’ labor unit, were hanged on gallows built in front of the camp kitchen during an Auschwitz I roll call. The SS orchestrated this reprisal following prisoner escapes from the surveyors’ detail and unauthorized communication between inmates and civilians. Camp authorities used the recent escapes as a pretext to impose collective punishment.
Post a Comment
Read more

Japan: Capital punishment for a minor

Death chamber at Tokyo Detention Center The Supreme Court's recent decision to uphold the death sentence given in a lay judge trial to a 24-year-old man for murders he committed when he was a minor raises questions about the lay judge trial system and capital punishment. These include whether the lay judges correctly understood the spirit of the Juvenile Law in sentencing the defendant to death. It was the 1st death sentence handed down on a minor in a lay judge trial. The murders took place in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, in 2010 when Yutaro Chiba was 18 - meaning he fell under the purview of the Juvenile Law. Chiba was convicted of entering his ex-girlfriend's house and stabbing to death the girl's sister and a female friend of the girl with a butcher knife, seriously injuring a male friend of the sister and abducting the girl. Prosecutors said Chiba killed the victims because they were trying to separate him and his former girlfriend. Since Chiba pleaded n...
Read more

Texas: The inmates who refused to die quietly and had to be gassed out of their cells before execution

Former crime reporter Michelle Lyons, who witnessed nearly 300 executions in Texas, US, reveals the desperate acts of death row prisoners who refused to accept their fate After spending years or often decades locked up in a tiny cell for 23 hours a day, most Death Row inmates go willingly to their executions. However, some refuse to die quietly - with officers forced to gas them out of cells, strap up their heads and even give chase across prison grounds. Michelle Lyons, who has witnessed nearly 300 executions in Texas, US, exclusively tells Sun Online how certain inmates "fight like hell" in their last moments. On most occasions, Michelle watched from the witness area, with the killers already on the gurney - the stretcher where they'd be given a lethal injection. Seven prisoners once tried to escape from the Row in Huntsville - with one shoving magazines and newspapers under his clothes to help him roll over razor-wire fences. Others have had to b...
Read more

Former Florida cop to be executed on same day as 80-year-old Pasco man

In an unprecedented move in the modern history of capital punishment, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday cleared the way for 2 executions to occur on the same day.  DeSantis reset the execution of James Duckett, whose execution earlier this year was stayed amid efforts to secure DNA testing and analysis of evidence in his case.  Duckett’s execution was reset for July 28. That is the same day previously set for the execution of Dominick Occhicone.  Court records indicate that Duckett’s execution is scheduled for noon. Occhicone’s is set to follow at 6 p.m. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Idaho | Death row prisoners sue over state's new firing squad

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) – Days after Idaho made the switch to a firing squad for executions, two Idaho death row prisoners next in line to be put to death sued the state prison system, saying its director withheld information about how she settled on the specifics for carrying out the method. Attorneys for prisoners Thomas Creech and Gerald Pizzuto filed suit this week in state district court against Idaho Department of Correction Director Bree Derrick. In the filing, they called her approval of an updated standard operating procedure for the firing squad and lethal injection as a backup method “arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion and in excess of the statutory authority of the agency.”
Post a Comment
Read more

Florida executes Dennis Sochor

Man, 74, becomes oldest inmate executed in Florida in state’s 10th lethal injection this year  Florida put to death one of its oldest prisoners in its history on Tuesday, a 74-year-old convicted murderer who was 1 of 3 older inmates scheduled for execution within the span of a month in the nation’s busiest death penalty state.  Dennis Sochor was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m. following a 3-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, the office of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said. He was convicted of killing a woman on Jan. 1, 1982, just hours after meeting her at a New Year’s Eve party. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Oldest inmate set to be executed in Florida will face strict spending limit for final meal

An entire category of food is also off-limits for final meal requests in Florida Florida is currently preparing to execute its oldest inmate later today (July 14), a 74-year-old convicted murderer who has been on death row since the 1980s—but his final meal will be limited by a strict budget. Dennis Sochor is scheduled to be put to death later today, making history as the oldest inmate to ever be executed in the state. The criminal, who has been on death row for nearly 40 years, will be administered the lethal three-drug injection, with the process due to begin at around 6pm.
Post a Comment
Read more

Florida | Former warden recalls botched electrocution that left him battling PTSD for 13 years and turned him into an abolitionist

Ron McAndrew anticipated it would be just another standard execution. He had been assigned to carry out the death of Cuban refugee Pedro Medina via electric chair within the confines of Florida State Prison. Fifteen years had passed since Medina's conviction for the murder of 52-year-old Dorothy James, and McAndrew's responsibility was to oversee the administration of lethal electrical currents to his brain. Having already supervised two previous executions using the identical procedure and raised in a community that strongly supported capital punishment, he expected a swift conclusion with justice delivered.
Read more