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Disabled woman in Minsk continues hunger strike against death sentence on subway bombing suspects

A disabled woman in Minsk continues her hunger strike in protest against the death sentence passed on Dzmitry Kanavalaw and Uladzislaw Kavalyow in the subway bombing trial in Minsk on November 30.

Svyatlana Chornaya, who has a second-degree disability, began the strike on November 30, after Supreme Court Judge Alyaksandr Fedartsow pronounced the verdict. She sent an appeal to Alyaksandr Lukashenka, urging him to prevent the execution of the death row inmates.

“I feel more or less fine,” the woman told BelaPAN on Tuesday. “I am set to continue the hunger strike until the matter is resolved, until I am sure that the people will live, until they are pardoned or their sentence is revoked.”

Ms. Chornaya said that she had not yet received a reply to her appeal from the Presidential Administration.

“Our country is a civilized state,” Mr. Chornaya said in her appeal to the Belarusian leader. “I urge you to prevent the murder of the possibly innocent people by any means. Since there is no complete certainty about their guilt, their execution will be tantamount to murder.”

The woman also urged Mr. Lukashenka to introduce a moratorium on the death penalty.