Terrorist attack in metro: A year later

The result is: 15 died, about 400 injured, and two persons executed.

The blast at “Kastrychniskaya” metro station was set off on April 11 at 5.56 p.m. 15 persons were killed, 387 were injured. The terrorist attack and its investigation have evoked wide public response.

A day after the terrorist act, on April 12 in the evening, suspects were detained: 25-year-old natives of Vitsebsk Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzislau Kavalyou. In addition to the charges related to the metro blast, they were later charged with blasts in Vitsebsk in autumn 2005 and in Minsk on July 4, 2008.

The criminal case on the metro terrorist act was judged by the Supreme Court. During the trial Kanavalau completely admitted his guilt. Kavalyou denied his involvement in the three blasts, and he also stated that he incriminated himself and Kanavalau during investigation under pressure of investigators. On November 30 the court sentenced them to capital punishment, death penalty. Kanavalau was found guilty of terrorism, Kavalyou guilty of being accomplice to terrorism and a failure to report on the preparing crime, BelaPAN reminds.

Kavalyou filed a cassation appeal against the judgement and a petition for pardon addressed to Alyaksandr Lukashenka. According to official reports, Kanavalau did not petition for pardon.

Lukashenka denied a pardon, explaining that “by a danger and extremely hard consequences of the committed terrorist acts to the society.”

The UN Committee on Torture, which received a complaint of Kavalyou’s relatives against the verdict, urged the authorities of Belarus not to execute the convict until the complaint is considered. However, on March 17 it became known that the both death sentences had been enforced. As the official document on Kavalyou’s death reads, it happened on April 15.

Many people in Belarus, including some persons affected by the terrorist attack, doubt that Kanavalau and Kavalyou are guilty. They stressed that the trial fell short of legal norms, and arguments of defense were ignored. Human rights activists in their turn, note that the execution of the persons charged with the terrorist act took place unprecedentedly hastily, which looks suspicious, to their mind.

The international community, including the Council of Europe and the European Union, have condemned the execution of Kanavalau and Kavalyou, and once again urged Belarus, the only country in Europe where death penalty is still used, to impose a moratorium on capital punishment.

Today formal events dedicated to the memory of the terrorist act victims are to be held in Minsk. At 5.50 p.m. a memorial sign is to be unveiled at Kastrychnitskaya metro station. At the same time a meeting-requiem dedicated to the innocent victims is to be held near the All Saints Church, and it is  planned to unveil a memorial plaque in the crypt of the church and to hold a service for the dead.

Young activists plan to lay flowers to the place of the tragedy from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. “April 11, 2011 will always stay in the memory of the majority of Belarusians as a day of tragedy, as a day of senseless man killing,” the statement of young opposition activists reads. “Those “terrorists” have been found, convicted and executed less than in a year, there are more questions than answers in the society.”