The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2019 In April 2018 civil society organizations put forward reports that highlight concerns about conditions of detention. They note that correspondence is often withheld from prisoners on death row (as is their correspondence to their relatives), contrary to Article 174(3) of the Criminal Enforcement Code.188 Lawyer visits are also obstructed, providing serious obstacles to relatives’ ability to get power of attorney to be able to submit an individual complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee on behalf of a convicted family member, for example. Death row prisoners reportedly experience almost total isolation, as well as humiliation.189 It appears that prisoners on death row are, furthermore, prohibited from speaking about detention conditions during their one monthly visit from a family member.190 The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) together with Viasna summarised that the conditions of detention of death convicts in Belarus “amount to psychological and physical torture, which has reportedly led to a number of suicide attempts.”191 As described in ODIHR’s Background Paper on the Death Penalty 2018, the court proceedings of Ihar Hershankou and Siamion Berazhny attracted widespread public attention, as well as from national and international organizations due to allegations about mistreatment of the prisoners.192 Viasna corroborated these concerns in their end of year report, highlighting that Ihar Hershankou and Siamion Berazhny were reportedly victims of torture, used to force their incrimination and that ultimately no criminal proceedings were started against the police officers.193 On 27 June 2018, Viasna reported that Ihar Hershankou began a hunger strike as a form of protest against the violation of his right to correspondence.194 On 13 July 2018, the UN Human Rights Committee registered an official complaint submitted on behalf of Ihar Hershankou.195 The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus drew attention to other areas of concern relating to torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The Rapporteur’s report stated that there is a lack of external independent oversight of detention facilities and a lack of public information about the conditions 188  FIDH – HRC “Viasna”, “Death Penalty in Belarus: Murder on (Un)lawful grounds”, Submission to CAT , April 2018, <https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CAT/Shared%20Documents/BLR/INT_CAT_CSS_BLR_30786_E. pdf>. 189  Ibid. 190  Ibid. 191  FIDH - HRC “Viasna”, “Death Penalty in Belarus: Murder on (Un)lawful Grounds”, op. cit., note 156, p. 5. 192  “The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2018”, op. cit., note 3, p. 10. 193  Human Rights Center “Viasna”, “Human Rights Situation in Belarus: 2018 Analytical review”, op. cit., note 46, p. 12. 194  “Death row prisoner Ihar Hershankou goes on hunger strike”, Viasna, 26 June 2018, <https://dp.spring96. org/en/news/90183>. 195  “UN Human Rights Committee registers complaint of death convict Hershankou”, Viasna, 16 July 2018, <https://dp.spring96.org/en/news/90320>. 39