Exhibition of posters against death penalty opens in Homel
On February 27, the Homel-based socio-political center hosted the opening of an exhibition entitled “Six Arguments Against the Death Penalty”. The exposition features posters by artist Aleh Ablazhei and works from the funds of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. The exhibition will last a week.
The event was attended by Volha Hrunova, the mother of executed prisoner Aliaksandr Hrunou. ON the same day, Volha Hrunova sent a complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, in which she asked to find a violation of her rights by the Belarusian authorities. “Volha has used all legal possibilities in our country to learn about the burial place of her son, appealed to the court, the Council of Ministers, the House of Representatives, the President’s Administration. However, all her appeals were rejected. So she has written to the United Nations Human Rights Committee,” said local human rights activist Leanid Sudalenka.
He added that human rights defenders had repeatedly called upon the authorities to abolish the death penalty in a country which is at the heart of Europe, especially now that the Belarusian authorities are trying to improve relations with the European institutions.
“The presence of the death penalty is a problem not only of criminal law, but also a social problem, because the relatives of those sentenced to death are suffering, who cannot even know the place of their burial. The death penalty does not solve the problem of crime in the country. We’re talking about the ineffectiveness of the death penalty. Executions of criminals do not reduce the number of murders in the country,” said program coordinator of the Center for Strategic Litigation Vasil Paliakou.
