Relatives of executed death convict Uladzislau Kavaliou appeal against refusal to disclose place of his burial
His mother Liubou Kavaliova and sister
– Tatsiana Kaziar, filed an appeal to the Ministry of
Internal Affairs against the refusal of the Department of Corrections
to report his place of burial. The relatives applied to the
Department of Corrections with such a request on 25 April, but
received a denial on 8 May. First Deputy Head of the Corrections
Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs S. Pratsenka only
stated that "the order of execution is strictly regulated by
Article 175 of the Penal Code of the Republic of Belarus in
accordance with which the sentence of death is executed only after
the receipt of the denials on the supervisory appeals and the
petition for clemency. The death penalty is executed by shooting and
is non-public. The body is not issued for burial, the place of burial
is not reported."In their address to the Ministry of Internal
Affairs and Liubou Kavaliova and Tatsiana Kaziar insist that the T.
L. Kovalev Kozyar insist that the provision of paragraph 55 of
Article 175 of the Criminal Executive Code, "the place of burial
is not reported", is void due to its incompatibility with
Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights. They support their position by opinion of the Committee on
the Human Rights Council in the case of Uladzislau Kavaliou,
according to which "the complete secrecy surrounding the date of
execution and burial sites as well as the denial of the body for
burial in accordance with the religious beliefs and practices of the
family of the executed prisoner created the effect of intimidating
and punishing families by intentionally leaving them in a state of
uncertainty and mental stress. Under these circumstances, the
Committee agreed that these elements in the aggregate, as well as the
subsequent persistent refusal of the State party to inform the
authors about the place of burial of Uladzislau Kavaliou constitute
inhuman treatment of the authors in violation of article 7 of the
Covenant "(paragraph. 11.10 of the views).
The human
rights activist Raman Kisliak, who gives legal advise to the
Kavalious, believes that public bodies, including the Ministry of the
Interior, should be guided by the norms of the Covenant and take
measures to stop the violation of their rights and inform them about
the place of burial.
Bear in mind that Uladzislau Kavaliou
was accused of assistance to the commitment of the terrorist attack
in the Minsk metro and executed by shooting on 15 March 2012.
