Authorities object to UN committee considering complaint from Kavalyow's family
She referred to a letter sent by the government to the UN committee.
"In the letter the government disputes the very registration of our complaint, claiming that there were no legal grounds for that," the woman said.
In particular, the authorities refer to Article 2 of the Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights whereby a written complaint to the UN committee may be submitted by individuals who have exhausted all available domestic remedies.
The government has informed the UN committee that Mr. Kavalyow has filed an appeal against the sentence with the Supreme Court and also appealed to Alyaksandr Lukashenka for a pardon, which means that his domestic remedies have not been exhausted.
The UN committee has asked Ms. Kavalyow to present her comments on the subject before March 27. "In the near future we together with lawyers will draw up a letter of objection to the government's letter," she said.
Mr. Kavalyow, 26, was sentenced with his friend Dzmitry Kanavalaw to death in the subway bombing case on November 30, 2011.
As a result of their trial held between September 15 and November 30, Messrs. Kavalyow and Kanavalaw were convicted of the two 2005 bomb explosions in Vitsyebsk, the bomb attack that occurred during an open-air Independence Day concert in Minsk in July 2008 and the April 11, 2011 subway bombing that killed 15 people and injured more than 200. Mr. Kanavalaw was found guilty of perpetrating them, while Mr. Kavalyow of acting as his accomplice, as well as of failure to report the crimes or their preparation.
