The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

A report of the Prosecutor’s Office of Mahiliou region said on April 30 that another death sentence had been pronounced in Belarus. It was the first verdict since 2011. Some Western politicians were too quick to call the lack of new death sentences in 2012 as a “positive trend.”

The mother and sister of Uladzislau Kavaliou, executed on charges of committing a terrorist act in Minsk metro in April 2011, have addressed President Lukashenka with a petition to unveil his burial site. Similar appeals were sent to the Interior Ministry and the Committee for State Security (KGB).

Famous Belarusian and Russian screenwriter and actor Andrei Kureichyk signed a petition against the death penalty in Belarus.

Does the state have the right to decide who should live and who not? How are justice and punishment interrelated? Can death be a legitimate punishment for a crime? These and many other questions were asked by members of the Social and Legal Movie Club at a regular meeting held on March 28 in the Crimea.

The international human rights organization decided to file a lawsuit against the prohibition of a picket near the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus by Moscow authorities.

Liubou Kavaliova, the mother of Uladzislau Kavaliou, charged with the terrorist act in Minsk metro, wants to know the details of the last minutes of the son's life, and considers the verdict as unfair. That's why she is trying to find which state agency executed the death verdict, issued to her son by the Supreme Court of Belarus.

A number of public discussions concerning the death penalty was held in the Belarusian regions last week. On 27 March a public discussion was held in Mahiliou, on 30 March – in Hrodna and on 31 March – in Minsk.

Activists of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders against the Death Penalty” created an animated film entitled “The Queue”, which touches on deep philosophical subjects: human life and the indifference of society in relation to the issue of the death penalty.