Mother of executed Homel resident applies to Constitutional Court
On the eve of the Human Rights Day the mother of the executed death row convict Aliaksandr Hrunou, Volha Hrunova, asks the Constitutional Court to pay attention to collisions of the Criminal-Executive Code which prohibits to issue the bodies of the executed to their families or inform the families about the places of their burial, contrary to the Constitution of Belarus and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
“I asked Homel Regional Court to be informed about the exact time of the execution and the place of my son's burial. However, the court denied me this right, citing Article 175 of the Criminal-Executive Code. In this regard, I state that the acting legislation of Belarus and the practice of its implementation continue bringing me moral suffering and psychic stress,” commented Mrs. Hrunova.
The woman believes that the atmosphere of a complete secrecy surrounding the procedure of the death penalty, the places of burial of the shot convicts and the refusals to issue their bodies to their relatives are equal to intimidation and punishment of their families, as far as the latter ones are deliberately left in the state of uncertainty and psychic distress.
“Such attitude of the state to the families and relatives of a convict discloses a violation of Article 25, part 3 of the Constitution, according to which “no one should be subjected to cruel or inhumane treatment”. This also entails a violation of Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which reads that “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” writes the mother in hear appeal to the supreme court instance.
In her appeal Mrs. Hrunova asks to initiate the proceedings on elimination of the legal collisions in the light of the guarantees provided by Article 25, part 3 of the Constitution and Article 7 of the ICCPR, and introduce the appropriate amendments to the national legislation.
Let us remind that earlier Volha Hrunova started a strategic litigation at the Tsentralny District Court of Homel for finding Article 175 of the Criminal-Executive Code inconstitutional.
