By executing two more death sentences Belarus violated the citizens’ right to appeal to the UN Human Rights Committee

The information on two more death sentences reportedly executed in Belarus last week has been confirmed by the mother of one of the executed persons Andrei Burdyka.

On 25 July, Mrs. Burdyka visited Minsk detention center #1 and the center’s chief told the lady her son had been executed. The personal belongings of Mrs. Burdyka’s son were given to her.

The other criminal convicted in the same case, Aleh Hryshkautsou, must have been executed as well. The exact date of the execution is unknown. However, it might have happened between July 11 and 19.

This is a second time over the past two 18 months, when Belarus executes its citizens in defiance of the UN Human Rights Committee’s demand for interim measures. The Committee has been informed about the execution of Andrei Burdyka and Aleh Hryshkautsou.

Both death convicts submitted their complaints to the Committee back in December 2010. The individual communication by Aleh Hryshkautsou was registered under #2013/2010, that by Andrei Burdyka – #2017/2010. The Belarusian government and the Committee maintained correspondence on the issue.

Thus, the Belarusian government ignored the citizens’ right to appeal to the UN Human Rights Committee, says human rights defender Raman Kisliak, who assisted Aleh Hryshkautsou and Andrei Burdyka in drafting their complaints.

“In practice, the Republic of Belarus has violated the Optional Protocol to the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Protocol allows individuals to submit complaints to the UN Human Rights Committee, request to consider their cases and establish whether their rights have been violated. This is what the Protocol was adopted for. Belarus is among the countries that ratified the Protocol. Therefore, it should respect the right and cooperate with the Committee”, says Mr. Kisliak.

Raman Kisliak stresses the fact that the Committee’s cooperation procedures provide for one more rule: executions should be suspended pending their consideration by the Committee.

“By failing to implement the Committee’s demands, Belarus directly violates the individuals’ right to appeal to the Committee under the Optional Protocol”, says the human rights defender.

According to Mr. Kisliak, the key reasons for appealing the death verdicts were alleged violation of the convicts’ right to a fair trial.

“The trial was accompanied with violations of internationally recognized standards for a fair trial. And, with people being sentenced to death, violation of their right to a fair trial means violation of their right to life”, says Mr. Kisliak.

“A trial that resulted in a death verdict is equal to arbitrary taking of life. This is what the Committee’s practice is about. In their complaints, both Mr. Hryshkautsou and Mr. Burdyka did refer to violations.”

The death verdicts to Aleh Hryshkautsou, 29, and Andrei Burdyka, 28, were pronounced by Hronda Regional Court on 14 May 2010, after Judge Piotr Bandyk found them guilty of committing several murders.

It is essential that the verdicts were pronounced only a few days after the working group on the Universal Periodic Review criticized Belarus for using the death penalty. The Belarusian government said then that the death penalty is a temporary measure to be applied in cases of gravest crimes only and that the consideration of its abolition was underway.