Human rights groups express extreme concern over subway bombing trial

A number of Belarusian and foreign human rights organizations have expressed “extreme concern” over the ongoing trial of Dzmitry Kanavalaw and Uladzislaw Kavalyow who stand accused of this past April’s subway bombing and a number of other attacks.

In a statement issued on Monday, the groups say that victims in the case have voiced doubts about the impartiality of the judge and the transparency of the proceedings as a result of which at least one man may be sentenced to death.

The rights defenders mention the arrest of the father of a subway bombing survivor who was arrested and placed in a psychiatric hospital in Minsk last week, after requesting the judge in the trial to postpone the proceedings until the abolition of the death penalty and the introduction of the institution of jury in Belarus.

The activists also express concern about Mr. Kanavalaw’s statement that he was subjected to torture following his arrest and a ban on the non-state media talking to subway bombing survivors.

The groups call on the Belarusian authorities to introduce a moratorium on the death penalty.

They also call for international efforts to “prevent the state from murdering its own citizens irrespective of whether they will be found guilty of the serious crimes, admit their guilt and are really guilty.”

Among the signatories are Lithuania’s Watch and Belarusian House of Human Rights in Vilnius, Russia’s International Youth Human Rights Movement and Moscow Helsinki Group, Poland’s Stefan Batory Foundation and Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, as well as Armenia’s Helsinki Association. // BelaPAN