Say NO to the death penalty in Belarus

As reported by the Supreme Court, Eduard Lukau, sentenced to death by Minsk City Court, has filed a petition for clemency.

November 11 it became known that the death sentenced had been executed against Aliaksandr Hrunou, convicted of the brutal murder of a student in Homel. Human rights activists have suggested that Eduard Lykau, also sentenced to death in 2013, could be executed at the same time.

"As we learned from the former Chief of jail No. 1 in Minsk Aleh Alkayeu, several convicts are usually shot one day, that's why we had suspicions that the verdict against Eduard Lykau has been executed as well,” commented the coordinator of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders against Death Penalty in Belarus” Andrei Paluda.

BelaPAN sent a request to the Supreme Court. In response it is stated that “convicted Lykau has applied to Aliaksandr Lukashenka for clemency, and implementation of the judgment in respect of a person sentenced to death is suspended pending petitions for clemency," reads the document signed by Deputy Chair of the Supreme Court Valery Kalinkovich.

Lawyer Aliaksandr Kliukach refused to tell what state his client was in and when he had filed the petition for clemency. Human rights activists say that they have no direct access to information on Lykau's case.

"However, we trace the situation through the victim, Mikhail Hladki”, says Mr. Paluda. “He was sentenced to eight years in prison for the murder of his brother, though in fact he was innocent, and the brother and mother were killed by Eduard Lykau”.

Now Mikhail Hladki is seeking compensation for unlawful deprivation of liberty, but Minsk District Court replied that his claim would not be considered until the clemency petition filed by Lykau was pending at the Clemency Commission."

Let us remind that November 25, 2013 the judicial board on criminal cases of Minsk Regional Court sentenced Eduard Lykau to death under Article 139, Part 2, paragraphs 2, 6, 8, 10, 16 of the Criminal Code.

According to the investigation, he committed the first two murders in 2002 after a home party. As a result of a conflict, he killed his former cell-mate and his mother. The brother of the killed man, Mikhail Hladki, was convicted of the brother, and was served 8 years in prison. The third murder was committed by Mr. Lykau in 2004 – he killed the his lover's concubine, the alleged motive being jealousy. In 2011, according to investigators, he also killed his lover, as she threatened to expel him from her house. The criminal was detained in September, after killing a 74-year-old pensioner in the settlement of Zhdanovich near Minsk. According to the case materials, a quarrel broke out between the accused and the killed, then it turned into a fight, during which Lykau struck several blows on his acquaintance with a metal pipe.

Thus, nine years passed between the first and the last murder committed by Eduard Lykau.

Psychiatric examination showed that the accusedhad an increased aggressive nature, but was sane and able to control his actions. He committed all crimes in the state of alcohol intoxication.

April 15, 2014 Board of Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court left unchanged the verdict of Minsk Regional Court against Eduard Lykau.

According to human rights activists, the convicted did not file a complaint to the UN Committee on Human Rights.