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

A disabled woman in Minsk continues her lengthy 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 a few days 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.

“After a short break, I resumed drinking water,” the woman told BelaPAN on Tuesday. “I yet have to attend two separate court trials. After I stopped drinking water, the swelling in my lower legs reduced. I started drinking water again three days ago.”

As for her appeal to Mr. Lukashenka over the fate of the two young men, she said that she had not yet received a reply. "My appeal was redirected to the presidential clemency board, whose representatives told me that the board would consider the appeal only after it received the criminal case of Kanavalaw and Kavalyow from the Supreme Court. They have not received it yet.”

In her appeal, Ms. Chornaya said, “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 is set to fast until she gets a "distinct reply" to her appeal. “I know that Kavalyow’s mother has filed a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee about the potential violation of the man’s right to life,” she told BelaPAN. “I know that the complaint was registered and the Belarusian authorities may not execute the two men until the complaint is processed. But I also know that Andrey Zhuk was executed in 2010 as the UN Human Rights Committee was in the process of examining his case. This is what worries me most.”

Messrs. Kanavalaw and Kavalyow, both aged 25, were sentenced to death as a result of their trial held between September 15 and November 30. They 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.