UN Human Rights Committee registers complaint of Henadz Yakavitski, asks for respite
Henadz Yakavitski during the consideration of his appeal at the Supreme Court. 8 April 2016. Photo by spring96.org
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has registered an individual communication submitted on behalf of Henadz Yakavitski, who was sentenced to death on 5 January for murdering his partner back in July 2015.
The communication has been registered as No. 2789/2016.
The Committee has informed Andrei Paluda, coordinator of the Human Rights Defenders against the Death Penalty in Belarus campaign, who was the author of the complaint, that “a copy of the communication has been transmitted to the State party” with the request that "any information or observations in respect of both the question of admissibility and the merits of his communication should reach the Committee within six months."
The letter also says that under Rule 92 of the Committee’s rules of procedure, the State party has also been “requested not to carry out Mr. Henadz Yakavitski’s death sentence while his case is under consideration by the Committee.”
