Mother and sister of death convict Kavaliou submit arguments to Belarus’ commentaries for UN Human Rights Committee
The mother of the death convict submitted their arguments to the commentaries
provided to the UN Human Rights Committee by the Belarusian authorities in
connection with the individual communication submitted to the organization on
his behalf.
According to lawyer and human rights defender Raman Kisliak, the appeal against
Belarus’
arguments is necessary for the recognition of the appeal as acceptable and the further
consideration on its merits. According to the practice of the UN Human Rights
Committee, neither the review appeal nor the appeal for pardon are considered
as internal means of legal defense, contrary to the statements of the Belarus’
commentaries.
“In practice, a death convict in Belarus is informed about the
rejection of the pardon petition several minutes before the execution. That’s
why there is no real opportunity for a convict to submit an individual
communication to the UN Human Rights Committee and wait for its registration in
such circumstances. That’s why the demand to exhaust the national means of
defense sounds as mockery,” argues Mr. Kisliak.
Bear in mind that Uladzislau Kavaliou and Dzmitry Kanavalau were sentenced to
death by the Supreme Court of Belarus on 30 November 2011 for involvement with
the terrorist act in the Minsk
metro in April 2011 and a number of other episodes.
