UN lambastes Belarus over executed bombing convicts
MINSK. Nov 22 (Interfax) - A man executed in March this year as an alleged co-perpetrator in a 2011 deadly bombing in Minsk had his rights grossly violated during his arrest and trial, a Belarusian human rights group claimed, citing the UN Human Rights Council (HRC).
Eleven people died on the spot as a powerful improvised bomb went off in a Minsk subway station on April 11, 2011, and four other died of injuries in the hospital later. About 300 people were hurt.
Two young men, Vladislav Kovalyov and Dmitry Konovalov, were convicted of the bombing. Both were executed in March 2012. Both were aged 26.
"The committee [HRC] has come to the conclusion that the investigation [of Kovalyov's case] involved numerous mistakes, that physical violence was used against Kovalyov, that he was under pressure to testify against himself, that the court was not impartial, and, mainly, that his right to life was violated," the Viasna rights center said in a statement posted on its website, www.spring96.org, citing a response from the HRC to an appeal that Kovalyov's mother and sister, Lyubov Kovalyova and Tatyana Kozyar, filed in December last year.
"Kovalyov was not taken to court after his detention for a judge to decide whether he would be at a detention center or remain out of custody with travel restrictions before the trial," Viasna said.
"The presumed innocence principle was violated," it said. "Vladislav was kept handcuffed in a cage during the trial, and that was the way he was shown in the media, which shaped an attitude to him as a criminal."
"The Supreme Court, which examined the Minsk subway explosion case, was not impartial. This conclusion is based on the fact that appeals from [defense attorney] Stanislav Abrazei were constantly rejected while those from prosecutor Alexei Stuk were constantly satisfied," Viasna said.
The HRC also accused Belarusian authorities of violating the rights of Kovalyov's mother and sister, namely "their right to receive the body of a slain relative" and to "information on the place and date of his burial," the center said. The HRC recommended that Belarus repeal the law prohibiting the body of an executed person from being handed over to their family.
Kovalyova and Kozyar appealed to the HRC on December 14, 2011. The committee registered the appeal the next day.
Viasna said that, in their correspondence with the HRC, "Belarusian authorities stressed that it was a foregone conclusion that the Committee would make a politicized decision, and that, for that reason, the state would not heed it."
Kovalyov protested his innocence and appealed to President Alexander Lukashenko for clemency. Lukashenko rejected the appeal.
Konovalov pleaded guilty and did not appeal for clemency.
State television reported on March 17 that the two men had been put to death, setting off global protests.