Bagdanava, Krasouskaya, Kavaliova: Return the body

Iryna Bagdanava, Valeryia Krasouskaya and Liubou Kavaliova called on the international community to demand returning the body of executed Uladzislau Kavaliou to his family.

A video appeal on behalf of the three women was released on the anniversary of the passing of the death penalty sentence in the framework of the Return the Body campaign, which started on the global platform Change.org.

In her video appeal Liubou Kavaliova asks to help her get the body of her son Uladzislau back. Valeryia Krasouskaya shares her story expressing the hope for one day to find out what happened to her father. Iryna Bagdanava in her turn addresses the international community with a request to sign the petition and do everything possible in order to make the Belarusian authorities release the political prisoners and not allow for new ones to appear.

We would remind that the Return the Body campaign started on 4 October when at railway stations and metro stations in five Dutch cities corpse bags appear with alive people inside. The flash mob was organized by Dutch students in the support Liubou Kavaliova and her fight for the life of her son. On the next day the campaign was officially presented by the Belarus Free Theatre together with Liubou Kavaliova after the premiere of the theater’s Trash Cuisine performance in Amsterdam. The performance tells about the horrors of death penalty around the world.

On 30 November 2011 the Supreme Court of Belarus passed the sentence on the case of Vitebsk terrorists Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzislau Kavaliou. It was voiced by the first deputy chairman of the Supreme Court Aliaksandr Fedartsou. Kanavalau and Kavaliou were found guilty of participation in Minsk metro bombing in April 2011 and a blast at the Independence Day celebrations in July 2008 in Minsk. The court sentenced Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzislau Kavaliou to a death penalty.