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| Dmitry Konovalov and Vladislav Kovalyov |
Belarusian authorities should take immediate steps to abolish the death penalty, Human Rights Watch said today. Belarus should also investigate allegations of serious violations, including torture, in the trials of Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzislau Kavalyou, who were executed in recent days.
The Belarus government should explain why it proceeded with the executions despite the fact that a case involving the treatment of Kanavalau and Kavalyou was pending before the United Nations Human Rights Committee, Human Rights Watch said. Belarus violates its international obligations by imposing death sentences on people whose right to a fair trial may have been violated. Belarusian authorities need to investigate the allegations of torture by interrogators to extract confessions, Human Rights Watch said.
"The Belarusian authorities need to find out in a thorough and impartial investigation just what happened to Uladzislau Kavalyou and Dzmitry Kanavalau," said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The rapid executions leave many questions unanswered about whether these men were railroaded to their deaths."
Kanavalau and Kavalyou were convicted of carrying out a terrorist attack in the Minsk metro in April 2011, and sentenced to death on November 30. President Aleksandr Lukashenka refused to pardon them on March 14, 2012. On March 17, Kavalyou's mother received a notification letter from the Supreme Court that her son had been executed. State television reported both men's execution later the same evening.
Independent experts and human rights groups repeatedly expressed their concerns about due process and other fair trial violations, including torture and other forms of ill-treatment, during the investigation and trial. Kanavalau and Kavalyou were executed despite the fact that Kavalyou's mother on behalf of her son had submitted a petition to the UN Human Rights Committee,which, following standard practice, asked the Belarus Government not to carry out the sentence until it had reviewed and issued a decision in the case.
Belarus remains the only country in Europe that uses the death penalty. According to human rights groups, about 400 people have been executed in Belarus since 1991. In 2010 and 2011, Belarusian authorities carried out a total of four executions, despite the UN Human Rights Committee's request to stay the executions pending the committee's review of the cases. In yet again ignoring the Committee's request not to proceed with the execution, Belarus violated its obligations as a party to the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Human Rights Watch said.
In his 2010 report, the UN special rapporteur on torture at that time described capital punishment as a form of cruel and inhuman punishment. Those condemned to death in Belarus are refused the opportunity to bid farewell to their relatives, families are not informed of the date of execution in advance, and the burial place is not disclosed. The special rapporteur said that those conditions constitute inhuman treatment of the relatives of those executed.
Human Rights Watch deplores the continuing use of the death penalty in Belarus. The Belarusian authorities should take immediate steps to introduce a moratorium or abolish the death penalty by ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all countries and in all circumstances because the inherent dignity of the person is inconsistent with the death penalty. This form of punishment is unique in its cruelty and finality, and it is inevitably and universally plagued with arbitrariness, prejudice, and error.
Source: trust.org, March 20, 2012
Russia Calls on Minsk to Join Moratorium on Death Penalty – Lavrov
Russia wants all European countries including Belarus to join the moratorium on the death penalty, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in his interview with radio station Kommersant FM.
Belarus executed 2 men last weekend who had been convicted for a deadly subway bombing in the Belarusian capital in April last year, Belarusian news agency Belta reported on Sunday.
“Of course the fight against terrorism should be ruthless. At the same time our attitude towards the death penalty is well known," Lavrov said. "We have declared a moratorium on the death penalty. At this point there are special decisions that were adopted by the Constitutional Court and the Russian government is committed to this moratorium. In principle we would be interested in all European countries joining such a moratorium.”
Lavrov said that the abolition of the death penalty is “a complex” and “an ambiguous” issue and is “a decision for each state.”
“In my opinion the best decision at this stage is to have the moratorium,” Lavrov said.
“I am convinced that the movement of Belarus towards full membership of the European Council will provide a solution to the problem of the death penalty because one of the conditions for participation in the European Council is its abolishment,” he added.
Source: Ria Novosti, March 20, 2012
Belarus must release bodies of men executed over Minsk metro bombing
‘The Belarusian authorities must release the bodies to the families’ - John Dalhuisen
The execution of two men convicted of carrying out a deadly metro bombing last year in Minsk has been condemned by Amnesty International as it called on the Belarus authorities to release the bodies to their families for burial.
Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzslau Kavalyou were sentenced to death on 30 November after being found guilty of a bomb attack that killed 15 people and wounded more than 300 last April. The trial has been widely criticised for failing to meet international fair trial standards. The two men's sentences were passed by the Supreme Court of Belarus, leaving no possibility of appeal to a higher court.Dzmitry Kanavalau was found guilty of committing terrorist attacks and producing explosives in connection with a series of bomb attacks, most recently the one in Minsk, while Uladzslau Kavalyou was found guilty of assisting him and failing to inform the authorities.
However, there was no forensic evidence linking either man to the explosion and no traces of explosives were found on them. Experts concluded that it would not have been possible for them to prepare the explosives in the basement they’re alleged to have used. Kavalyou's mother Lubou has said that both men were beaten during interrogation and she believes the speed with which the executions were carried out is revenge for her campaign for her son.
The exact date of the executions is not known, but on Saturday Lubou Kavalyou received a Supreme Court letter dated 16 March saying her son had been executed. The executions have also been confirmed by state-owned media. Kavalyou’s execution took place despite an official request from the UN Human Rights Committee not to execute until his application to the committee had been considered.
In Belarus, the bodies of those executed are not released to the family and the place of burial is kept secret, causing further distress to relatives.
Amnesty International Europe and Central Asia Director John Dalhuisen said:
“Despite publicly stating its intention to abolish the death penalty, the Belarusian government continues to issue death sentences and execute prisoners.
“President Alexander Lukashenko should establish an immediate moratorium on the death penalty, in line with successive UN General Assembly resolutions calling for a global moratorium.
“The Belarusian authorities must also release the bodies to the families of the 2 men.”
Lubou Kavalyoua, who is campaigning for a moratorium on the death penalty in Belarus, last saw her son when she visited him in a remand prison in Minsk on 11 March. The two men were denied clemency by President Lukashenko on 14 March. The letter sent to Lubou Kavalyoua is unusual in Belarus. In the past, official notification that an execution has been carried out has been sent to the relatives only weeks or months afterwards. In 2003 the UN Human Rights Committee ruled in the cases of 2 other executed prisoners that the secrecy surrounding the death penalty in Belarus punished the families and amounted to inhuman treatment.
Kavalyou’s sister Tanya has told Amnesty that security forces have attempted to prevent any demonstrations of grief near the apartment block where the family lives in Vitebsk in north-east Belarus, including the laying of flowers and lighting of candles. Nevertheless, around 30 people left candles in the entrance to the building.
Background:
Belarus is the last country in Europe and the former Soviet Union which still carries out executions.
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 neighbouring room where they are forced to their knees and shot in the back of the head.
Source: Amnesty International UK, March 20, 2012
UN human rights panel deplores Belarus execution
The United Nations Human Rights Committee today voiced grave concern over the execution in Belarus of a person whose case was under its consideration after he was found guilty of last year’s bombing of a subway in the capital, Minsk.
Vladislav Kovalev was executed “in recent days” along with another person following their conviction, the Committee, the body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by State parties, said in a statement.
Mr. Kovalev had petitioned the Committee claiming that his trial was unfair and that he had been forced to confess guilt.
“The position of the Human Rights Committee is clear – Belarus has committed a grave breach of its legal obligations by executing Mr. Kovalev,” said the Committee’s chair, Zonke Zanele Majodina.
“Furthermore, this is not the 1st time – in 2010 and 2011 it also executed persons whose cases were before the Committee. We deplore these flagrant violations of the human rights treaty obligations of Belarus,” she said.
The Committee had asked the Belarus authorities to stay the execution pending its consideration of the case. Such requests are binding as a matter of international law, the Committee said, adding that it will continue to consider Mr. Kovalev’s case despite his execution.
The Committee is currently holding its 104th session in New York, during which it is considering the human rights situations in the Cape Verde, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Turkmenistan and Yemen.
Source: UN News Centre, March 20, 2012
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