Prison authorities prevent death convict from writing to UN Human Rights Committee
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- Henadz Yakavitski during the consideration of his appeal at the Supreme Court. 8 April 2016. Photo by spring96.org
According to information received by human rights defenders, there have been no letters from death convict Henadz Yakavitski since May 11. As a result, his relatives feared that the prisoner could have been executed. On May 30, the convict was visited by his daughter. She learned that her father is still alive. He said that the letters were blocked because they contained a power of attorney, so that his daughter could send a complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee. Thus, prison authorities are preventing Henadz Yakavitski from exercising his constitutional rights.
“The Constitution states that ‘everyone has the right, in accordance with international legal acts ratified by the Republic of Belarus, to appeal to international organizations to protect their rights and freedoms after all available domestic remedies have been exhausted” (Art. 61 of the Constitution). However, Henadz Yakavitski is not allowed to take advantage of this right.
This is not the first time that government agencies create obstacles to receiving a power of attorney to represent the interests of death convicts in the Committee. Earlier, Siarhei Ivanou’s power of attorney was ‘lost’ in jail No. 1.
But we will write to the UN Human Rights Committee on behalf of Henadz Yakavitski and the complaint is already being prepared,” said Andrei Paluda, coordinator of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders against the Death Penalty in Belarus”.
On January 5, the Minsk Regional Court sentenced Henadz Yakavitski to death for the murder of his partner committed with special cruelty. On April 8, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence.
