Tamara Chikunova about the irreversibility of the death penalty: “The posthumous vindication won't bring an innocent victim back to life ...”
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- Tamara Chikunova near the stand of the Belarusian human rights defenders against the Vth World Congress against the Death Penalty (Madrid, 2013)
On 1
January 2008 the death penalty was abolished in Uzbekistan. The human
rights community of Uzbekistan contributed to this, but the greatest
contribution must have been made by Tamara Chikunova, the founder of
the human rights organization "Mothers against the Death Penalty
and Torture ", after her only son was executed by
shooting.
Tamara Chikunova's tough position against the death
penalty has received well-deserved respect – her human rights work
in this area was marked by many international awards, including the
French National Order of the Legion of Honor.
Tamara Chikunova
says the death penalty is not a speculative problem, but a tragedy
for her: "After the execution of my only son, Dmitri, I couldn't
sleep for two years... I couldn't sleep because of despair, horror
and helplessness ... I was constantly tormented by the question: why
and what for was such cruelty meant? The fate hit me on the ground,
broke my life and took away the future ... The worst thing in the
execution of the death penalty is a miscarriage of justice ! Indeed,
the death sentence, if delivered incorrectly, as a result of a false
testimony or on a malicious intent, becomes a terrible crime. In
addition, no court systems cannot eliminate the discrimination and
errors. No system in the world is able to guarantee a fair and
accurate decision about who should live and who should die . Any
other sentence can be compensated for, but not a penalty! There is no
return after the execution. My son Dmitry was unlawfully convicted in
November 1999 . On 10 July 2000 he was secretly shot in Tashkent
prison . In March 2005, my son was posthumously rehabilitated, not
guilty, and his trial was declared unfair. But the death penalty is
irreversible ... It is irreversible not only by the fear of the
penalty, but irreversible in principle – a posthumous vindication
posthumous vindication won't bring an innocent person back to life
... "
To date, Central Asia is free of the death
penalty.
Turkmenistan abolished the death penalty in
1996.
Kazakhstan – on 20 July 2009.
In Tajikistan, a
bilateral moratorium on executions and the death penalty has acted
since 2004.
In Kyrgyzstan the death penalty was abolished on
25 June 2007.
A great credit for it is due to Tamara
Chikunova, who now lives in Italy, where he works with
the
organization "Community of Sant Egidio" and fights
against the death penalty in those countries where it still
exists.
In 2010, Tamara was Chikunova came to Belarus and met
with Sviatlana Zhuk, the mother of the death convict Andrei Zhuk, and
activists of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders against the Death
Penalty in Belarus".
