Liubou Kavaliova was present at the premiere of the new performance “Trash Cuisine” by the Belarus Free Theatre in Amsterdam. The performance focused on death penalty around the world, drawing from the story of trial and execution of Uladzislau Kavaliou and Dzmitry Kanavalau.

After the performance Liubou Kavaliova, Irina Bogdanova and Lera Krasouskaya came on stage and presented the new campaign “Give the Body Back”.

In her speech Liubou Kavaliova asked the audience to help get her son Uladzislau’s body back. Lera Krasouskaya, daughter of Anatoli Krasouski, a businessman who had disappeared in 1999, shared her story and expressed hope that one day she would know where her father was buried. Irina Bogdanova, sister of Andrei Sannikau, presidential candidate in the 2010 elections, appealed to the Dutch and foreign audience to urge the politicians of their countries to do everything possible for the release of Belarusian political prisoners and prevention of new political trials. She also asked the audience to sign Liubou Kavaliova’s petition in which she demanded to return her son’s body.

Public Campaign “Give the Body Back” was initiated by the Belarus Free Theatre and Dutch theatre and film stars, and is part of the campaign Free Belarus Now. On 4 October the campaign activists held flashmobs in five cities of the Netherlands. Body bags, inside which there were living persons, Dutch student volunteers, appeared at railway and metro stations at the same time (left). The flashmobs lasting from ten to thirty minutes were organised during the rush hours when the Dutch were heading for their work.

The day before, all the editorial offices of leading media of the Netherlands got packages with the inscription “Give the Body Back”.

The “Give the Body Back” campaign, announced by Liubou Kavaliova, Lera Krasouskaya and Irina Bogdanova on the day of the premiere, includes three points: the return of Ulad Kavaliou’s body to his family for burial and the abolition of the death penalty in Belarus; the return of the bodies of Lukashenko regime’s opponents, who were kidnapped and killed, and a fair investigation on the circumstances of their deaths; the release of political prisoners in order to prevent their possible death, as far as all of them are in danger now.

EU Ambassadors deliver démarche to Belarus in relation to death penalty

On 2 October, marking the World Day Against the Death Penalty (10 October), the Ambassador of Latvia to Belarus, together with the Ambassadors of France and Italy to Belarus and representatives of the Delegation of the European Union to Minsk presented a démarche to the Foreign Ministry of Belarus to draw attention of the Belarusian authorities to the issue of abolishing death penalty in Belarus.

The démarche is a joint decision by the Delegation of the European Union to Minsk and the Ambassadors of the European Union Member States accredited in Belarus, and its delivery was entrusted to the head of the Latvian diplomatic mission.

Belarus is the only country on the European continent to still use death penalty. The European Union, including Latvia, has on a number of occasions urged Belarusian authorities to set moratorium on capital punishment.

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