HR defenders release documentary on death penalty (video)
On 29 June, Minsk “Ў” gallery hosted the presentation of a documentary entitled “The cause of death is -------”, created as part of the “Human Rights Defenders against the Death Penalty” civil campaign.
The film was directed by Viktar Tratsiakou, who focused on the grief of the death convicts’ families.
“Belarusian legislation does not allow returning of the convict’s body and personal belongings,” says human rights defender Valiantsin Stefanovich, “nor does it allow disclosing the burial site, while the death certificate has a blank under “death cause”.
The main hero of the film is Mrs. Sviatlana Zhuk, the mother of Andrei Zhuk, sentenced to death and executed in March 2010. According to the film’s screenwriter Palina Stsepanenka, in the majority of cases the death convicts’ families are not willing to contact human rights defenders and thus Mrs. Zhuk is an exception.
