UN Human Rights Committee: Belarus violates the right to life for the fourth time
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- Andrei Burdyka and Aleh Hryshkautsou during the trial
The UN Committee on Human Rights found a violation of the right to life of Aleh Hryshkautsou, convicted to death by the Hrodna regional court on May 14, 2010. This was reported to BelaPAN by the lawyer Raman Kisliak, who represented the complainant in this international body within the framework of the campaign "Human rights defenders against the death penalty".
Recall that on May 14, 2010, Aleh Hryshkautsou and Andrei Burdyka were sentenced to death for crimes that were committed during an armed attack on a flat in Hrodna in October 2009.
As stated by the coordinator of the campaign "Human Rights Defenders against the Death Penalty" Andrei Paluda, it is the fourth individual message on death sentences, which had been positively reviewed by the UN Committee on Human Rights. In the past years, the Committee has considered the cases of Andrei Zhuk, Uladzislau Kavaliou and Vasil Yuzepchuk. In each of these cases, the UNHRC found violations of the right to defense and a fair trial, torture and violations of the right to life.
"It will become harder for Belarus to ignore and downplay the HRC decisions on such cases, and in general the issue of the death penalty in our country," says the human rights activist.
The individual communication of Aleh Hryshkautsou to the Human Rights Committee was filed on December 6, 2010 and registered under number 2013/2010. The same day, the information about it was passed to the competent authorities through the Foreign Ministry of Belarus.
May 4, 2015, human rights activist Raman Kisliak received the UNHRC decision on the case. The Committee recognizes that Hryshkautsou was forced to confessions by means of physical and psychical violence. After the detention, he was repeatedly beaten by the police. Therefore, ambulance was four times called to the investigative isolator.
Moreover, the Committee found the violation of the right to protection in respect of Mr. Hryshkautsou, as well as the presumption of innocence, since he was not brought promptly before a judge and first met with the judge only 5.5 months after his arrest.
The UN Committee on Human Rights of the United Nations concluded that it violated the right to life of Aleh Hryshkautsou since he was sentenced to death during a trial, during which the minimum guarantees of a fair trial were violated.
Let us remind that on May 14, 2010, Aleh Hryshkautsou and Andrei Burdyka were sentenced to death for the crimes committed during an armed attack on a flat in Hrodna in October 2009. September 17 the judicial board on criminal cases of the Supreme Court considered Burdyka and Hryshkautsou's appeal and left the sentences unchanged. On July 21, 2011, the mother of one of them paid a visit to Minsk remand prison No. 1, where those sentenced to death were held before the execution. The head of the remand prison confirmed that the execution had been performed. The mother was also given the son's belongings.
