11 Aug 2012

Mother claims executed son was tortured

9:10 pm on 11 August 2012

The mother of a man executed for carrying out a bomb attack in the Belarus capital, Minsk, says he was tortured and forced to confess.

Fifteen people were killed when the bomb exploded on the capital's metro system on 11 April last year.

Two days later President Alexander Lukashenko proclaimed that two men had confessed.

In March, two men were executed for planting the device after being tried in September. They were Dmitry Konovalov, 25, and Vladislav Kovalyov, also 25.

Lyubov Kovalyova, the mother of Kovalyov, says there were many irregularities in the evidence.

"The court has not a single piece of proof of guilt,'' she told the BBC, ''... apart from Dima's confession, which he gave under torture."

She also said no particles from the explosion were found on either suspect.

Ms Kovalyova said the two men never stood a chance of a fair trial and she still has not been told where her son is buried.