May 15
BELARUS:
The secret executions in Europe's 'last dictatorship'
When the guards come, these inmates never know if it is for the last time. On
death row in Belarus, the only country in Europe that still uses the death
penalty, they are never told when they will be executed. And when it happens,
it is all kept as a state secret.
For the 10 months he spent on death row, Gennady Yakovitsky could only tell
whether it was day or night by the dim light filtering through the protective
cover on the window of his cell, where the white lights stayed on even while he
slept.
It was easy to lose sense of time. He was held in isolation, any walk outdoors
was forbidden. Visits were tightly controlled and, other than lawyers, only
close relatives were allowed to see him, once a month.
On those days, Yakovitsky would be taken from his cell and escorted, hands
cuffed behind his back, with guards forcing his face down. He, like all the
others, was never told where he was going, said his daughter Alexandra. They
were kept guessing: "Is it to meet their relatives? Lawyers? To be shot?"
Father and daughter saw each other through a glass window, always closely
watched by guards. "We didn't talk about the case, it was forbidden. We could
only talk about family things." On 1 of her 8 visits Alexandra, then 27,
complained to him about the long time it was taking to receive a new passport.
"The guards said sarcastically: 'You still have a little time left'."
Often described as "Europe's last dictatorship", Belarus is the only country in
Europe and the former Soviet Union still to use the death penalty, and the
process is shrouded in secrecy.
Executions are carried out by a shot in the head, but the exact number is
unknown: more than 300 are thought to have happened since 1991, when Belarus
became an independent country.
2 executions were carried out there last year, according to Amnesty
International, and, currently, at least 6 men are believed to be on death row -
under the country's laws, women cannot be sentenced to death.
Those convicted - usually for homicides with aggravating circumstances - are
kept in one of the high-security cells in the basement of Pre-trial Detention
Centre 1, a jail set up in the building of a 19th Century castle, now partially
collapsed, in the centre of the capital Minsk. Activists and journalists are
rarely given any access.
They're treated as if they're already dead.
There they face gross human rights violations, including "psychological
pressure", with agents often using "torture and other cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment", a report by Viasna, a local human rights group, said in
2016.
Inmates are not allowed to lie or sit on the beds outside the designated
sleeping hours, a former prison worker told the group, and spend most of their
days walking around their cells. Even their right to send and receive letters
is often said to be disrespected.
"The conditions are appalling," said Aisha Jung, Amnesty International's
campaigner on Belarus, who worked for a decade on the country's executions.
"They're treated as if they're already dead."
Gennady Yakovitsky, who lived in Vileyka, a town about 100km (60 miles) from
Minsk, had been accused of killing his 35-year-old partner in their flat after
2 days of drinking with friends in July 2015, according to reports by human
rights groups.
After an argument, in which he allegedly struck her several times with his
fists, they went to a separate room, where Yakovitsky fell asleep. What
happened next he said he could not remember.
When he woke up, he found her already dead, with a broken jaw and partially
naked. He dressed her in her jeans that contained bloodstains that had not been
there before, the reports claimed, and alerted the police. Three days later, he
was arrested.
Activists said that Yakovitsky faced psychological pressure during his first
interrogation and that the people who were in the flat at the time gave
contradictory testimony. "Some witnesses were drunk in court," his daughter
said. "[Later] they said they couldn't remember what happened. No evidence was
provided".
Yakovitsky had already been sentenced to death for murder in 1989, but this was
commuted to a 15-year jail term. Alexandra said the court in Minsk had used
this as "the main proof" against her father.
In January 2016, he was found guilty of a second murder, which he denied, and
sentenced to death. On execution day, prisoners are told by a public prosecutor
that their appeal for a presidential pardon has been rejected. Aleh Alkayeu,
former head of the prison where the executions are carried out, told Viasna:
"They trembled either from cold or from fear, and their crazy eyes radiated
such a real horror that it was impossible to look at them."
The inmates are blindfolded and taken to a specially-arranged room where access
is restricted only to those allowed by the prosecutor: never a member of the
public, according to accounts from former agents.
They are then forced to their knees and shot dead.
The whole procedure is said to last some 1 minutes. Only weeks or even months
later are their relatives informed. In some cases, this happens when a box is
sent by mail with some of the convict's personal belongings.
The bodies are never returned to the families and the locations where they have
been buried remain a state secret, a violation of the human rights of the
inmates and their relatives, UN special rapporteur Miklos Haraszti said in
2017. This, he added, amounted to torture.
In a referendum in 1996, 80% of Belarusians were against abolition of the death
penalty. The result was not recognised internationally because, as with any
other vote in Belarus, there were claims of widespread violations.
The government of President Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994, still
uses this result to justify its policy and has made any change conditional on
another popular vote. Meanwhile, a group in parliament is now discussing what
can be done, but observers say it may take some time before any decision is
taken.
Until then, Belarus is likely to remain the only European country outside the
Council of Europe, the continent's top human rights watchdog.
"Ultimately Belarus will have to choose the way it's going to abolish the death
penalty," said Tatiana Termacic, from the Council's Human Rights and Rule of
Law Directorate. "It's on the way towards abolition and we hope it'll be sooner
rather than later."
Yet, she said, it was a "black stain" on a continent almost totally free of the
death penalty.
Recent polls in Belarus suggest public support for capital punishment has
fallen as campaigns have raised awareness. There was an outcry of sorts in
2012, when 2 men were put to death for a deadly bomb attack on the Minsk metro
a year earlier.
Nevertheless, between 50% and 2/3 of people are believed to still favour the
practice.
"More and more people are speaking against the death penalty," said Andrei
Paluda, co-ordinator of the campaign Human Rights Defenders against the Death
Penalty in Belarus. "But the government is using the fact that it's the last
European country where the death penalty is applied in order to force European
countries to negotiate."
The president's office did not respond to a series of BBC requests for comment.
Gennady Yakovitsky's lawyer appealed to the Supreme Court against his
conviction, arguing the trial had not been fair and his guilt had not been
unequivocally established. He was quoted as saying vital evidence had been
omitted, including a forensic examination that had found traces of unidentified
blood under the victim's nails.
But the court upheld his sentence and, in November 2016, Yakovitsky was
executed, at the age of 49.
A month later, his family received a letter by post confirming that the
sentence had been carried out. "I didn't receive his personal belongings, we
didn't see the body," said Alexandra who now campaigns against the death
penalty in Belarus.
"I had given him photos," she said. "I got nothing back."
(source: BBC News)
EGYPT:
Egyptian court issues preliminary death sentences for 13 convicted in prison
break case
An Ismailia criminal court issued preliminary death sentences on Monday to 13
defendants convicted of escaping El-Mostakbal prison in the Suez Canal
governorate in 2016.
The court has referred the case to the country's grand mufti for a non-binding
opinion on the death sentences, per Egyptian law.
The defendants include members of Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis terrorist organisation,
now known as Daesh Sinai, and other defendants being tried in absentia.
A final sentence will be issued by the court on 12 July.
(source:ahram.org.eg)
IRAN:
Looming Execution of Dervish Member
The Iranian judiciary should immediately halt the looming execution of a member
of the Gonabadi Dervish community, Human Rights Watch said today. Iran should
also release all Dervish members arbitrarily detained since February 2018.
The authorities arrested more than 300 members of the Dervish community on
February 20 following clashes when the authorities violently repressed a
peaceful protest in Tehran. The clashes left dozens injured and three police
officers and another security force member dead. On March 18, after an unfair
trial that lasted three sessions, the authorities sentenced Mohammad Sallas,
46, to death on charges of killing the police officers by driving a bus into a
crowd of security officers.
"Iranian authorities repeatedly punish minority communities for protests
seeking treatment as equal members of society," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle
East director at Human Rights Watch. "Iran should end its crackdown on its
minority groups and immediately halt the execution of Mohammad Sallas and grant
him a fair retrial."
Many of those arrested remain in custody on vaguely defined charges and without
access to a lawyer. On May 10, a member of the Gonabadi Dervish community with
close knowledge of the situation who requested anonymity told Human Rights
Watch that 430 Dervish men remained in custody in Fashafouyeh prison in Tehran.
Activists tweeted on May 14 that the authorities had arraigned 11 women among
those detained on charges that included disobeying the police and acting
against national security.
Sallas's trial appears to have been seriously unfair, in particular for a trial
that resulted in a death sentence. He had no lawyer during the investigation,
and Judge Mohammad Shahriari said during the trial that the authorities had
completed their investigation within 48 hours.
Sallas said during his trial that the police had severely beaten him, causing
head injuries. He said he drove into the police officers out of anger over
their actions, but he had not intended to kill anyone.
On April 24, Saeed Ashrafzadeh, Sallas' lawyer, told the Iranian Labour News
Agency (ILNA) that the Supreme Court had upheld the sentence in less than 24
hours after the court took up the case.
On March 4, the authorities informed the family of Mohammad Raji, one of those
arrested, that he had died in custody. The authorities have not investigated
his death and had threatened reprisals against his family if they spoke about
it publicly.
On April 18, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran prosecutor, said at a news
conference that "350 indictments have been issued with regard to the incidents
on Pasdaran Street, and some of the cases have been referred to the
Revolutionary Court."
He said the authorities are charging the detainees with disturbing public
order, disregarding police orders, conspiracy, collusion to disrupt the
country's national security, and using weapons.
The source with knowledge of the situation said that among those detained are
family members, particularly women, to pressure their family members to confess
that they used violence during the protests. The source said that members of
the police and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) Intelligence
Unit have been interrogating the detainees.
Several family members have confirmed that the authorities are not giving
detainees access to lawyers or permitting regular family visits or phone calls.
They also said that several people injured during the February 20 crackdown
have not had adequate access to medical treatment. They include Ahmad
Barakoohi, Nima Azizi, Mohsen Noroozi, and Mehdi Mahdavi, who have serious eye
injuries, and Shokoufeh Yadollahi, who has a head injury, the family members
said.
The Nematollahi Gonabadi Dervish community consider themselves followers of
Twelver Shia Islam, the official state religion in Iran, but authorities have
persecuted them for their religious beliefs in recent years. On March 8,
authorities placed Noor Ali Tabandeh, the group's spiritual leader, under house
arrest. The source said that after the February 20 incident, judicial
authorities closed down the Haghighat publishing company and the Reza Charity
institution, both of which belong to Gonabadi Dervish members.
Attacks on police forces are criminal acts, but Iranian authorities should not
extend criminal responsibility to an entire group of protesters, Human Rights
Watch said. Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances
because it is an inherently irreversible, inhumane punishment.
Under international law, everyone is allowed to participate in lawful and
peaceful assemblies, based on the principles embodied in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a party. The United Nations Basic
Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials
require them to avoid the use of force when dispersing assemblies that are
unlawful but nonviolent or, if that is not practicable, to restrict such force
to the minimum extent necessary.
Article 14 of the ICCPR also requires Iran to ensure the right to a fair trial
for anyone brought before the criminal courts. This includes the right "to have
adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defense and to
communicate with counsel of his own choosing." The Iranian authorities should
not only charge detainees with a recognizable crime, but they should also
ensure the right to a fair trial for those charged, Human Rights Watch said.
(source: Human Rights Watch)
IRAQ:
Terrorist guilty of Russian diplomat's murder in 2006 gets death sentence
An Iraqi Criminal Court sentenced a militant involved in the assassination of a
Russian diplomat in 2006 to the death penalty, al-Sumariyah TV channel informed
on Monday.
"The Central Criminal Court has imposed capital punishment on one of the
terrorists charged with the murder of a Russian diplomat in Iraq in 2006,"
Supreme Judicial Council spokesperson Abdul Sattar al-Biraqdar stated.
According to him, the suspect confessed to murdering four foreigners as part of
an armed group, among them a Russian diplomat.
The court representative did not provide any other information concerning the
incident and did not mention the name of the murdered Russian diplomat.
On June 3, 2006, a group of militants blocked and attacked a Russian Embassy
vehicle carrying 5 people in Baghdad's Al Mansour district, near the Russian
Embassy building. Vitaly Titov, a security guard, was killed as a result of the
attack. 4 Russians - Third Secretary Fyodor Zaytsev and embassy employees Rinat
Agliulin, Anatoly Smirnov and Oleg Fedoseyev - were sent to an unknown location
and then killed.
A militant group with ties to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network (outlawed in
Russia) claimed responsibility for the attack.
(source: tass.com)
KENYA:
Wildlife Poachers In Kenya To Reportedly Face Death Penalty
Wildlife poachers in Kenya will face the death penalty, the country's tourism
and wildlife minister Najib Balala has reportedly announced. According to
China's Xinhua news agency, Balala has warned that the rule would be
fast-tracked into the law.
Balala reportedly explained that existing deterrents for poachers in east
Africa are proving insufficient, meaning that capital punishment would be
introduced in a bid to conserve Kenya's dwindling wildlife populations.
"We have in place the Wildlife Conservation Act that was enacted in 2013 and
which fetches offenders a life sentence or a fine of US $200,000," Balala
reportedly said.
"However, this has not been deterrence enough to curb poaching, hence the
proposed stiffer sentence."
Kenya's tourism chiefs have said that poaching is actually on a downward trend,
adding that this is mostly due to increased wildlife law enforcement efforts,
as well as more investment in conservation.
"These efforts led to an 85 % reduction in rhino poaching and a 78 % reduction
in elephant poaching, respectively, in 2017 compared to when poaching was at
its peak in 2013 and 2012 respectively," the ministry said.
But despite this, the Independent reports that two black rhinos and a calf were
poached earlier this month at Meru National Park - and that last year in Kenya
69 elephants and 9 rhinos were also killed.
The Save the Rhino organisation has also noted that the losses are very high,
and that they are essentially cancelling out the overall growth rate of the
population.
And, of course, in March this year the world's last male northern rhino - Sudan
- was put down, with Richard Vigne, head of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya
that was home to Sudan, saying that the rhino would be remembered forever as a
signal to the world.
If Balala's plan goes ahead, however, it could potentially put Kenya in
conflict with the UN - which opposes the death penalty for all crimes
worldwide, with the UN General Assembly calling for a phasing out of capital
punishment.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights also advocates the
universal abolition of capital punishment.
While the reports have not yet been confirmed, the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species has reposted the Xinhua report, adding: "Kenya to
fast-track laws to make #wildlife killing capital offense; once enacted,
#WildlifeCrime offenders will face death penalty."
This tweet has also been retweeted by Kenya's Ministry of Tourism.
LADbible has contacted the Kenya Wildlife Service to confirm Balala's plans,
and is awaiting a response.
(source: ladbible.com)
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