Oct. 4
BELARUS:
Belarus
Make Europe and Central Asia a Death Penalty - Free Zone!
The cases of Sergei Lishchuk and Anton Bondarenko
In Belarus the state refuses to tell families when their loved one is to
be executed and they are not granted a final chance to say goodbye. Death
row prisoners are executed by shooting in the investigation-isolation
prison (SIZO) No. 1 in the capital Minsk. Neither relatives nor death row
prisoners themselves are informed of the date of the execution in advance.
Relatives are sent a death certificate once the execution has been carried
out; however, the notification can take several weeks. After the execution
the state refuses to reveal where the body has been buried. The secrecy
surrounding the death penalty leads to immense suffering.
Amnesty International is deeply concerned that Sergei Lishchuk, who is
reported to be on death row in Belarus, may have been executed. On 1 July
2003 the Supreme Court of Belarus upheld the decision of the Gomel
Regional Court of 30 October 2002 sentencing Sergei Lischuk, aged 28, to
death for taking part in multiple aggravated murders. His lawyer and his
family have reportedly not been informed whether or not he is still alive.
In July 1999 Amnesty International was contacted by the mother of Anton
Bondarenko, whose son was being held under sentence of death. Anton
Bondarenko was sentenced to death in Belarus in June 1998 for a murder he
committed when he was 19 years old. His appeal was rejected and the
original death sentence was upheld. His mother informed Amnesty
International that she had visited the prison where her son was being held
on a daily basis for several weeks to see if her son was still alive. The
prison authorities refused to inform her of the date when her son would be
executed. Amnesty International appealed urgently to the authorities
against the execution of Anton Bondarenko. On 15 July 1999 Amnesty
International was informed by a friend of Anton Bondarenko's mother that
the previous day she and his mother had staged a two-person picket outside
the building of the Presidential Administration, where the mother had
reportedly pleaded for her son's sentence to be commuted. The two women
were arrested by police officers and detained for three hours. Anton
Bondarenko was executed on 24 July 1999.
In January 1999 Anton Bondarenko's lawyer had submitted a complaint to the
(UN) Human Rights Committee (HRC) alleging violations of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. However, the HRC was only able to
intervene on the case in October 1999 when Anton Bondarenko had already
been executed. When issuing its ruling on this case in April 2003 the HRC
requested the authorities to inform Anton Bondarenko's mother of "the
location where her son is buried, and compensation for the anguish
suffered. The State party is also under an obligation to prevent similar
violations in the future." To date Anton Bondarenko mother still does not
know where her son is buried.(1)
Background
Belarus and Uzbekistan are the last executioners in the former Soviet
space. On 11 March 2004 the Constitutional Court of Belarus concluded its
assessment of the compliance of death penalty provisions in the Belarusian
Criminal Code with the Belarusian Constitution and international
standards. The Court found that a number of articles of the current
Criminal Code were inconsistent with the Constitution, and that in the
current circumstances the abolition of the death penalty, or as a first
step, the introduction of a moratorium, could be enacted by the head of
state and by parliament.
While Belarus has not published comprehensive statistics on death
sentences and executions there is sufficient information in the public
domain to establish that the number of death verdicts has decreased since
1999. While from 1991 to 1999 between 20 and 47 people were sentenced to
death per year, 13 were sentenced to death in 1999, and between four and
seven per year until 2003. According to Colonel Oleg Alkayev, 134 were
executed while he was director of SIZO No.1 in Minsk from December 1996
until May 2001. He reported that only one man was granted clemency by
President Alyaksandr Lukashenka during that time.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Urgent action is needed. Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as
possible, in Belarusian, English, Russian or your own language:
expressing concern about Sergei Lishchuk, who was sentenced to death on
30 December 2002 and urging the authorities to disclose if he is still
alive;
urging President Lukashenka to commute Sergei Lishchuk's death sentence,
if he is still alive, and all other death sentences that to him for
consideration;
urging the authorities to build on the March 2004 decision of the
Constitutional Court of Belarus and impose a moratorium on death sentences
and executions;
calling on the authorities to comply with the (UN) Human Rights
Committee's 2003 rulings on the cases of Bondarenko vs. Belarus and
Lyashkevich vs. Belarus;
stating that you believe that the abolition of the death penalty is a
major historical step which will ensure one of the fundamental human
rights for future generations in Belarus;
expressing sympathy for the victims of crime and their families, but
pointing out that the death penalty has never been shown to deter crime
more effectively than other punishments, and is brutalizing to all those
involved in its application.
Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people who campaign to
prevent and end grave abuses of the rights to physical and mental
integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, and freedom from
discrimination, within the context of its work to promote respect for all
human rights. For more information see: http://www.amnesty.org/campaign/
1) President of the Republic of Belarus
Alyaksandr G. LUKASHENKA
Karl Marksa Str. 38 or send a letter directly from his web-site:
220016 g. Minsk www.president.gov.by/eng/president/mail.shtml
Belarus
Fax: +375 (172) 26 06 10 or 22 38 72
E-mail: [email protected] or
[email protected]
2) Minister of Justice
Victor G. GOLOVANOV
Kollektornaia Str. 10
220084 g. Minsk
Belarus
Tel: + 375 (172) 20 6779
Fax: +375 (172) 20 9755
E-mail: [email protected]
3) Chairman of the Belarusian House of Representatives
Vadim A. Popov
Sovetskaia Str. 11
220010 g. Minsk
Belarus
Fax: +375 (172) 27 37 84
