The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area International Safeguards At the 2011 Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, representatives of Belarus stated that the death penalty is used as an exceptional measure, applied only for serious crimes and in compliance with its international obligations. Fair trial guarantees Both Oleg Gryshkovtsov and Andrei Burdyko filed petitions before the UN Human Rights Committee. The Committee issued interim measures of protection under Rule 92 of its Rules of Procedure, requiring Belarus to stay the executions.53 According to a press statement issued by the Committee in July 2011, both men had claimed that they were subjected to torture at the pre-trial investigation stage and did not receive a fair trial. The Committee condemned the executions, which it said amounted to a violation of the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, having ignored interim measures. It reiterated the need for death sentences to be imposed only pursuant to a fair trial, in compliance with articles Six and 14 of the ICCPR.54 Reports by human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and the International Federation of Human Rights suggest that Vladislav Kovalev and Dmitriy Konovalov were also sentenced following a trial that violated fair trial guarantees. The human rights groups found that the investigation was marred by serious human rights abuses and that important information on the innocence of the two men was disregarded.55 There were allegations of forced confessions, extracted through the use of torture. Kovalev had claimed that both men were beaten during interrogation.56 Trial monitors reported serious procedural violations during the preliminary investigation and the judicial examination of the case.57 According to international observers, there was no forensic evidence linking the men to the explosion, and no traces of explosive material were found on the clothes or bodies of the men. The prosecutors did not present a motive for the crimes, which were allegedly of a terrorist nature.58 53  U.N. Belarus, op. cit., note 50. 54  Ibid. 55  E.U. Parliament Resolution, op. cit., note 43. 56  Amnesty International, “Belarus: two sentenced to death over Minsk bombings”, 30 November 2012, <http://www. amnesty.org/en/news/belarus-two-sentenced-death-over-minsk-metro-bombing-2011-11-30>. 57  Ibid. 58  Amnesty International, “Belarus must release bodies of men executed over Minsk metro bombing”, 19 March 2012, (Amnesty Belarus), <http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=20010>; and Radio Free Europe, “In Wake Of Belarus Executions, Doubts About Judicial Process”, 14 September 2012, <http://www.rferl.org/content/in_wake_of_ belarus_executions_doubts_about_judicial_process/24520661.html>. 12