A/HRC/20/8 presidential candidates for having denounced alleged violations of their clients‟ rights and those of other individuals to the media. 66. On 14 February 2011, the licenses of defence lawyers Uladzimir. Toustsik, Tamara Garayeua, Aleh Aheyeu and Tatsiana Aheyeua were revoked. On 6 March, another defence lawyer, Pavel Sapelka, was excluded from the Minsk City Bar, effectively preventing him from continuing his practice. By mid-May 2011, 53 defence lawyers had been put under investigation and their activities inspected by the Ministry of Justice. 67. Access to lawyers reportedly remained problematic for some of those convicted in relation to the events of 19 December 2010. For example, on 16 November 2011, Andrei Sannikau‟s lawyer discovered that her client had been transferred from the correctional colony of Babruysk to prison No. 4 in Mahiliau, then transferred to another correctional institution near Vitsebsk. The authorities reportedly failed to inform the lawyer about her client‟s transfer. The lawyer was also refused access to Mr Sannikau on the basis that he was still in transit, even after his arrival in Vitsebsk.54 68. As the trials in connection with the events of 19 December 2010 began, a team from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights was invited by the Government to monitor the trials of opposition leaders and activists. The monitors reported a number of deficiencies and violations of international norms regulating the right to a fair trial, including concerns at the basis of the defendants‟ detention, access to counsel, treatment in detention, influence of the executive on judiciary matters, close relations between the prosecutor and the judge, presence of Ministry of the Interior and KGB personnel at the trials, and apparent denial of the right to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty,55 findings that run counter to the provisions of article 14.2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which declares that anyone charged with a criminal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law. H. The right to life and the death penalty 69. Belarus is the only country in Europe that retains the death penalty for certain crimes during times of peace and war. In a referendum held in 1996, one of the seven questions asked concerned the abolition of the death penalty; 80.44 per cent of voters voted against it. 70. On 11 May 2011, Amnesty International disseminated information on the case of Aleg Gryshkautsou and Andrei Burdyka, who were sentenced to death on 14 May 2010 for crimes committed during an armed robbery in the town of Hrodna, in October 2009. On 17 September 2010, the Supreme Court turned down their appeals, after which the two men appealed for clemency from President Lukashenka, which was also refused. At the time, the cases of Mr Gryshkautsou and Mr Burdyka were submitted to the Human Rights Committee for consideration. On 20 July 2011, however, Vecherny Grodno, an official newspaper, reported that the men had been executed. As in previous cases of the death penalty, the execution and the subsequent formalities were not transparent. 71. On 30 November 2011, a Minsk court sentenced Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzslau Kavalyou to death for the terrorist attacks in the Minsk underground on 11 April 2011. Mr 54 55 Amnesty International, “Belarus: jailed presidential candidate denied access to lawyer”, 17 November 2011. OSCE report, Trial Monitoring in Belarus (March - July 2011). 17