Lubou Kavaliova asks for her son’s body

Lubou Kavaliova, mother of Uladzislau Kavaliou who had been shot by a firing squad in accordance with the resolution of the Supreme Court, addressed Aliaksandar Lukashenka asking him to give her the body of her son.

She told BelaPAN that the letter was submitted to the presidential administration on 22 March. A copy of the letter was faxed on 23 March.

We remind that Kavaliou’s family received the official note from the Supreme Court saying that Kavaliou’s sentence was carried out on 17 March. On the evening the same day a TV-channel reported that the other person charged with terrorism, Zmitser Kanavalau, was also executed.

The international community condemned these new cases of death penalty in Belarus, according to Catherine Ashton, Vice-president and high representative of the Union for foreign affairs and security policy; Martin Schulz, the Chairperson of the European Parliament; Torbjørn Jagland, the Secretary general of the Council of Europe and others.

Human rights activists in their turn claim that by executing Uladzislau Kavaliou (Zmitser Kanavalau did not appeal against his death verdict) the Belarusian powers violate both the national and international law. Firstly, as they point out, the Supreme Court never considered the claim against the verdict that Kavaliou’s lawyer was preparing. Secondly, Kavaliou’s case was taken for examination by the UN Committee on Human Rights, and while it is being examined the execution was carried out illegally.

As Lukashenka said in an interview to the TV-channel Russia Today on 20 March during his visit to Moscow, the death penalty for Kavaliou and Kanavalau became another tragedy in his life. “I feel strongly with the parents of these persons, but there is nothing I can do for them,” he said.

On 30 November 2011 the Supreme court found Zmitser Kanavalau guilty of a severe and particularly severe hooliganism; deliberate destruction of a property; illegal acquisition, storing and transportation of explosives and explosive devices; misprison of felony, particularly severe crime and its executor, executor’s location and aiding terrorism.