Salihorsk residents demand introduction of criminal liability for torture
Civil activists from Salihorsk
addressed the Chamber of Representatives with proposals to introduce the notion
of "torture" in the Belarusian criminal legislation, and criminal
punishment for it. They also demand that the MPs start working out a law
against torture.
"The matter is that the Belarusian legislation contains no definition of
"torture" athwart provisions of the UN Convention agaisnt Torture,
ratified by the Republic
of Belarus. There is no
such definition in any legal acts of Belarus," says the member of
the Salihorsk represetation of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Aliaksei
Valabuyeu, the initiator of this address. "Belarusian legislation provides
penalty for the abuse of office powers. There are also other articles of the
Criminal Code which provide an indirect punishment for actions which can be
considered as torture or ill-treatment. However, there is no direct punishment
for torture in our country."
The human rights defender is sure that the reluctance of the authorities to
criminalize torture is dictated by political factors: "There is no doubt
that the appearance of the notion of "torture" in the Belarusian
legislation, and an article providing penalty specifically for torture, and,
moreover, the appearance of the Law against torture will mean a public
recognition of the fact that there are cases of cruel and inhumane treatment on
the part of representatives of the authorities on our "island of peace and
stability," says Aliaksei Valabuyeu.
In their address to members of the Chamber of Representatives the activists
also point at the observations of teh UN Committee against Torture on Belarus, made
during the 47th session, held in autumn 2011. In particular, the
Committee recommended Belarus
to immediately supply the Criminal Code with the norms which would define
torture and qualify it as a criminal offence in line with article 1 and 4 of
the UN Convention against Torture.
