Volha Hrunova: Mother should know where her son is buried
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- A prison uniform - all that’s left of Aliaksandr Hrunou
Volha Hrunova, the mother of Aliaksandr Hrunou, who was executed on charges of murder, has filed a supervisory appeal to the Chairman of the Homel Regional Court Siarhei Shautsou, after her civil lawsuit against the Homel Regional Court and the Department of Corrections was rejected earlier this month. The death convict’s mother is thus urging the officials to introduce changes in legislation prohibiting the disclosure of the burial place of executed prisoners.
After being refused to recover the body of her executed son or specify the place of his burial, the woman with the help of human rights defenders launched a strategic litigation aimed at changing both legislation and practice that keep resulting in the suffering of parents and relatives of executed persons.
“It’s hard to understand why torture is actually still being used in our country, why the mother can’t know where her child is buried, why we are unable to come to the grave of someone we loved. Is this generosity and humanity, when, after the enforcement of the death penalty, families and relatives of the executed persons cannot in accordance with their religious beliefs and customs bury, although a murderer, but their loved one?” says the heartbroken woman.
Aliaksandr Hrunou was executed on 22 October 2014 for the murder of a 25-year-old girl committed back in 2012. Before execution, he managed to register a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee. After exhausting all domestic remedies, Volha Hrunova is going to submit a separate complaint of ill-treatment to the Committee.
Source: gomelspring.org
