Sviatlana Zhuk continues struggling for the right to know the place of burial of her son
On 13 December the Minsk City Court considered the cassation
appeal of the mother of the executed convict Andrei Zhuk against the verdict of
the Leninski District Court of Minsk concerning the refusal to bring an
administrative case against the inaction of the MIA Punishment Execution
Department that had refused to issue to her the body of the executed son or
inform her about the place of his burial.
Judicial Board of the Minsk City Court, consisting of Judges Mikhail Basau,
Alena Kruh and Alena Troska showed a formal approach to the consideration of
the cassation appeal, referring to the provision of Article 175 of the Criminal-Executive
Code, ‘the body is not issued for the burial and the place of burial is not
disclosed’. As a result, the verdict of the court of initial jurisdiction was
left standing.
Meanwhile, according to the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, the total secrecy with regard to the place of the burial of the
executed persons and the refusal to issue their bodies to their families are
equaled to the intimidation or punishment of the families, as they are
intentionally left in a state of uncertainty and mental distress. Such
explanation of Article 7 of the Covenant was given by the UN Human Rights
Committee in two similar cases against Belarus that were considered by it
in 2003. Unfortunately, the Belarusian authorities continue ignoring decisions
of the Human Rights Committee.
Human rights defender Andrei Paluda, who attended the
court session at the Minsk City Court, noted that ‘despite the strong feelings
and a poor emotional state of Andrei Zhuk’s parents durign the trial, they expressed
a strong desire to walk this difficult path to the end and to receive
information about the place of the burial of their son, because uncertainty is
the most difficult thing to endure. I am convinced that their efforts and the
efforts to repeal the provisions of Article 175 of the Criminal-Execution Code will
eventually give some results. During our yesterday’s talk Sviatlana Zhuk said
that even if it didn’t happen soon, someday the humane right to bury one’s
child or at least be informed about the place of the burial would be returned
to parents.’
Bear in mind that on 17 July 2009 the Minsk
Region Court found two residents
of the Salihorsk district, Ivan Sarokin and Andrei Zhuk, guilty of robbery and
killing of the state enterprise Balshavik-Ahra
carrying money to pay the wages to workers of the enterprise on 27 February
2009. In March 2010 25-year-old convict Andrei Zhuk was sentenced to death for
these crimes.
