English

Judge of Minsk City Court refuses to consider Uladzislaw Kavalyow family's complaint

Judge Aksana Udowskaya of the Minsk City Court on Monday refused to consider a complaint by Lyubow Kavalyow and Tatsyana Kozyar, the mother and the sister of Uladzimir Kavalyow who was put to death after his conviction in the subway bombing case, BelaPAN said.

The women had asked the court to declare illegal the authorities' refusal to say where the young man was buried.

The judge said that the matter did not fall within the jurisdiction of courts.

Talking to reporters, Ms. Kavalyow said that she had not expected a different decision by the city court's judge. She announced plans to send the complaint to the Supreme Court.

Human rights defender Raman Kislyak said that the women had been denied justice.

The authorities have referred to Article 175 of the Penal Code, which allows authorities not to release the bodies of executed convicts to their families or tell them where the convicts have been buried.

Human rights defenders insist that the article should not be applied as it runs counter to Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

As a result of their trial held between September 15 and November 30, 2011, Uladzislaw Kavalyow and Dzmitry Kanavalaw were convicted of two 2005 bomb explosions in Vitsyebsk, a bomb attack during an open-air Independence Day concert in Minsk in July 2008 and the subway bombing in April 2011. The Supreme Court found Mr. Kanavalaw guilty of committing the explosions and Mr. Kavalyow was found guilty of being accomplice to the crimes. Both were sentenced to death.

Mr. Kavalyow applied for a presidential pardon in early December, while Mr. Kanavalaw decided against doing so, according to authorities.

On March 14, 2012, it became known that Alyaksandr Lukashenka had denied clemency to the men. Three days later, the ONT television network announced that Messrs. Kavalyow and Kanavalaw had been executed.

The execution of Mr. Kavalyow took place despite an official request from the UN Human Rights Committee not to execute him until his mother's individual communication was considered.

Fifteen people died as a result of the April 11, 2011 subway bombing.