27/01/2012 PACE President has ‘serious doubts’ over convictions of Minsk bombers, appeals against their executions

27.01

Strasbourg, 27.01.2012 – Jean-Claude Mignon, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has launched an urgent appeal to the competent Belarusian authorities not to execute the two young men convicted for the bombing of the Minsk metro in April 2011.

“The Assembly is opposed, as a matter principle, to the use of capital punishment in any circumstances. But in the cases of Dmitry Konovalev and Vladislav Kovalev, I also have serious doubts whether these two youths ever committed the despicable act of terrorism for which they were convicted,” the President said.

“This is in light of the testimony given by Mr Kovalev’s mother to two of the Assembly’s committees, and other elements that have been brought to my attention by the Chairman of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.”

The President continued: “There are clear indications that, in the absence of any serious evidence, the confessions on which the verdicts are based were obtained under torture. Executing these two young men would therefore be a particularly outrageous violation of the principles of justice and human rights upheld by this Assembly.

“I hereby launch a solemn personal appeal to the competent authorities in Belarus to stop such a terrible injustice from taking place,” the President concluded.

External source of this news: http://assembly.coe.int/ConsultationNews.asp?idNews%3D7401%26Rss_Channel%3D2%26Content-Language%3Den-gb%26Rss_IDNews%3D7401

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27/01/2012 PACE President has ‘serious doubts’ over convictions of Minsk bombers, appeals against their executions

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