Death convict’s mother complains of inhuman treatment

Tamara Sialiun, mother of Pavel Sialiun, who was executed in the spring of 2014, argues that the authorities deliberately cause mental suffering to the families of executed prisoners, thus violating the constitutional rights of citizens.

On 23 February, Tamara Sialiun sent to the court of Hrodna’s Leninski district a complaint against the Hrodna Regional Court and the Department of Corrections of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The woman says in her complaint that her earlier request to disclose the fate of her son, to return his personal belongings and to give the body for burial was replied on 16 May 2014 by a message from the Hrodna Regional Court saying the verdict against Pavel Sialiun has been carried out. In addition, the Court referred to Article 175 of the Criminal Executive Code to refuse Mrs. Sialiun to disclose the burial site and issue his body.

Meanwhile, Pavel Sialiun’s lawyer was notified of the execution back on 18 April 2014. Thus, the mother did not know about the fate of her son for nearly a month, being unable to arrange his funeral in the tradition of the family, and remained in the state of a stress during the time.

All of these facts, according to her, violate both Part 3, Article 25 of the Constitution and Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states that “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.

In her complaint, Tamara Sialiun asks to find Article 175 of the Criminal Executive Code unconstitutional. In addition, she wants the court to find illegal actions of the Hrodna Regional Court and the Department of Corrections, who did not provide information about the fate of her son and sent his prison uniform instead. The woman believes that such actions are inhuman and requests to give her the necessary information.