Prosecutor General turns down Viasna's complaint
The Human Rights Center Viasna has recieved another reply to its complaint lodged with the Office of Prosecutor's General of Belarus concerning the forthcoming execution of the death sentences to Vasil Yuzepchuk and Andrei Zhuk.
In an official reply, representative of the Prosecutor's Office Mrs. Haurylenka says that 'only the convict, his legal advisor, the victim, public defendant or their representatives can appeal the verdict... Since the applicants are not participants of the criminal process, the complaint is left unattended.'
In other words, the Office of Prosecutor's General failed to consider the complaint to the merits.
'The reply implies that we have not been understood by the General Prosecutor's Office. For we did not intend to appeal the death sentences in the cases of Yuzepchuk and Zhuk,' says Viasna's lawyer Valiantsin Stefanovich.
The human rights activists' aim was to inform the General Prosecutor's Office of the UN High Commissioner's request not to execute the death sentences while the convicts' complaints are considered by the UN Human Rights Committee. The demand is based on the international commitments undertaken by the Republic of Belarus.
