English

Kanavalaw, Kavalyow have until end of next week to apply for pardon

Dzmitry Kanavalaw and Uladzislaw Kavalyow, who were sentenced to death in the subway bombing trial on November 30, received copies of the Supreme Court judge’s judgment on December 6, Mr. Kavalyow’s mother, Lyubow, told BelaPAN with reference to the lawyers on Thursday.

Under national regulations, death row inmates have 10 days to file an application for a pardon after receiving a copy of the judgment. However, the regulations do not specify a time frame within which the appeal should be considered.

Yawhen Smirnow, chairman of the Committee on Legislation and State System Building in the Council of the Republic (the country’s upper chamber), told BelaPAN on Thursday that the presidential clemency board had not yet received a pardon application from either Mr. Kanavalaw or Mr. Kavalyow.

After the board receives a pardon application, it first applies to the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the justice ministry for all materials relevant to the judgment, then studies it and only after that submits its opinion to the head of state, said Mr. Smirnow.
Even if Messrs. Kanavalaw and Kavalyow file the applications until the end of the next week, it is likely that the board will begin the work on their case only at the beginning of the next year, he noted.

As a result of their trial held between September 15 and November 30, Messrs. Kanavalaw and Kavalyow were convicted of the two 2005 bomb explosions in Vitsyebsk, the bomb attack that occurred during an open-air Independence Day concert in Minsk in July 2008 and the April 11, 2011 subway bombing that killed 15 people and injured more than 200. Mr. Kanavalaw was found guilty of perpetrating them, while Mr. Kavalyow of acting as his accomplice, as well as of failure to report the crimes or their preparation.

Mr. Kanavalaw had denied involvement in the bomb explosions in Vitsyebsk, while Mr. Kavalyow denied his complicity in all the bomb attacks.
The two men were arrested a day after the attack.