The UN Committee Against Torture considered Belarus'...

The UN Committee Against Torture considered Belarus' third periodic report on the implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment at its meetings in November 2000. The committee expressed concern about the continuing use of the death penalty; the inadequate procedures for appeals; lack of transparency about those being held and the reported refusal to return the bodies of those executed to their relatives, inhibiting investigation into charges of torture or ill-treatment of them in prison. The deterioration of the human rights situation in Belarus and the absence of a definition of torture in Belarusian laws, as provided in Article 1 of the convention, were also criticised by the Committee.