HR activist Raman Kisliak urges Foreign Ministry to foster abolition of death penalty
Human rights defender Raman Kisliak addressed the Belarusian Foreign Ministry with a demand to bring the criminal legislation in accordance with the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, thus rehabilitating the rights of persons, whose relatives have been executed, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports.
According to the human rights activist, it is the MFA who is in charge of supervising the implementation of international treaties:
‘I hope that it will be the MFA who is going to urge the Council of Ministers and other bodies possessing legislative initiative to pass a bill on amending Article 175 of the Criminal Code, so that the relatives of death convicts should not be subject to inhumane treatment.’
Raman Kisliak suggests:
- Informing the death convict, his counsel and relatives of the execution date;
- Providing the death convict with sufficient amount of time to part with the relatives;
- Returning the body to the family;
- In case the body is already buried, informing the relatives of the burial site.
