The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2021 Right to life and fair trial rights In March 2020, the UN Human Rights Committee recognized that in the case of Gennady Yakovitsky, who was executed in 2016, the Belarusian authorities committed several violations of his rights guaranteed by the ICCPR. Specifically, the Committee found that there was an arbitrary deprivation of his life, and that the right to fair trial and the presumption of innocence had been violated. The Committee also noted the refusal of Belarus to co-operate with the UN mechanism, as it disrespected the Committee’s interim measure to not execute Gennady Yakovitsky for as long as the Committee was examining the case.171 As noted in previous ODIHR Background Papers on the Death Penalty, Belarus justifies non-compliance with interim measures even in death penalty cases, by arguing that these measures are not binding, and are of an advisory nature.172 The Human Rights Committee has however noted that death sentences must not be carried out as long as international interim measures requiring a stay of execution are in place.173 Indeed, failure to comply with such measures violates a state’s obligations under the first Optional Protocol to the ICCPR. In a report on the administration of justice published in July 2020, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus elaborated on the lack of independence of the judiciary, which raises serious concerns overall, but specifically with regard to criminal proceedings that could result in a death sentence. The UN Special Rapporteur also noted the lack of autonomy and integrity of prosecutors and 171 Human Rights Committee, Views adopted by the Committee under article 5 (4) of the Optional Protocol, concerning communication No. 2789/2016, CCPR/C/128/D/2789/2016; Viasna, Комитет по правам человека ООН признал нарушения в деле расстрелянного Геннадия Яковицкого [Human Rights Committee announced that there had been violations in the case Gennady Yakovitsky], 21 May 2020. For information on another case in which the same situation was observed, meaning, Belarus executed a person with a pending case before the UN HRC, see ODIHR, The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area– Background Paper 2020, op. cit., note 5, p. 44. 172 Human Rights Committee, Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of Belarus, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/BLR/CO/5, 22 November 2018, para 7; ODIHR, The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2019, op. cit., note 5, p. 42–43. 173 “Such interim measures are designed to allow review of the sentence before international courts, human rights courts and commissions, and international monitoring bodies, such as the UN Treaty Bodies. Failure to implement such interim measures is incompatible with the obligation to respect in good faith the procedures established under the specific treaties governing the work of the relevant international bodies.” Human Rights Committee, General comment No. 36 (2018) on Article 6 of the ICCPR, on the right to life, CCPR/C/GC/36, para. 46. 43