Condemned man’s mother begs Lukashenka to save son's life
Pavel Selyun's mother appeals the Belarus president on the World Day against the Death Penalty, seeking to revoke death sentence for her son.
“I beg, I really beg you, Alyaksandr Ryhoravich… Please… Show mercy on my son. He has never been a bandit… He has always been a very kind person,” Tamara Selyun is crying but keeps reading. Until she cannot do it anymore.
Alyaksandr Lukashenka is Tamara’s only hope. Hrodna Province court returned her son Pavel Selyun guilty of a double murder aggravated by humiliating the bodies and dismemberment and by stealing valuables and documents. Pavel was sentenced to death. The Supreme Court kept the court’s decision in power on September 17.
Pavel Selyun’s mother tried asking Lukashenka to pardon her son. All was in vain. She was not allowed to meet the President. Now she can only write an open letter to him. Tamara is hoping that if Lukashenka meets Pavel, he will understand that he should not be killed.
“If I could meet our President, I would ask him to talk to my son. Maybe he would understand that my son is a different person and that he cannot be the person who committed the crimes…”
Lyubou Kavalyova also attended the press conference organized by Viasna. But he cannot ask Lukashenka for anything now. Her plea for mercy did not help and her son was executed in the autumn of 2012. Lyubou is trying to find out where her son is buried now. But she has not been given any answer so far.
“Our state is silent. We do not know what to do. It is very difficult. We want the death penalty to be abolished in the future, regardless of whether the convict is guilty or not. It is very hard for parents to be unable to visit their children’s graves in any case.”
Human rights activists’ speeches are less touching after all these words. But they describe terrible things too. For example, almost a million Belarusians do not know that there is capital punishment in our country.
Valyantsin Stefanovich quoted singer Hanna Hitryk in the end. The words about capital punishment impressed him, he said.
“Unlike murderers who may be intoxicated or have some mental disorders, we are decent citizens. And we still decide to kill or not to kill while we are in our right mind.”
Journalists did not ask many questions at that press conference. The people who should answer such questions were not present there.
Photo: wallsgeneration.ru
