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A disabled woman in Minsk, who is on a lengthy hunger strike against the death sentence passed on Dzmitry Kanavalaw and Uladzislaw Kavalyow in the subway bombing case, announced on Friday that she would continue her protest.

Earlier in the day, Prosecutor General Alyaksandr Kanyuk said that Mr. Kanavalaw, found guilty of perpetrating the April 2011 deadly subway bomb attack, had accepted his death sentence as lawful and refused to ask Alyaksandr Lukashenka for clemency.

Svyatlana Chornaya, who began her hunger strike a few days after Supreme Court Judge Alyaksandr Fedartsow pronounced the judgment in the trial, told BelaPAN later in the day that she would carry on with her hunger strike.

“My protest is against the guilty verdict on Dzmitry Kanavalaw and Uladzislaw Kavalyow,” said the woman. “I believe that the alleged guilt of these two young men was not proved in court. Admitting guilt is not enough for being found guilty, as specified in Belarusian regulations.”

“I don’t know why he refused to apply for clemency, under what circumstances he did it and what prompted him to make the decision,” she said. “Moreover, there is Uladzislaw Kavalyow, too, and he drew up a pardon application. So, I won’t end my hunger strike.”

Commenting on her health condition, Ms. Chornaya said that she felt normal. “I drink lots of water. I try to drink only mineral water to prevent my bones from being destroyed. I have already become accustomed to feelings of hunger and they do not worry me any more.”

Messrs. Kanavalaw and Kavalyow were sentenced to death as a result of their trial held between September 15 and November 30, 2011. They were convicted of the two 2005 bomb explosions in Vitsyebsk, the bomb attack that occurred during an open-air Independence Day concert in Minsk in July 2008 and the April 11, 2011 subway bombing that killed 15 people and injured more than 200. Mr. Kanavalaw was found guilty of perpetrating them, while Mr. Kavalyow of acting as his accomplice, as well as of failure to report the crimes or their preparation. //BelaPAN