Secrecy continues to accompany the application of the death penalty in Belarus and Uzbekistan, the last executioners in the former Soviet space. The general lack of transparency of the criminal justice systems in both countries together with the secrecy inevitably lead to immense suffering. Neither the death row prisoner nor his/her relatives are given any advance notice of the date of execution. After the prisoner is shot dead the body is buried in secret, with relatives having no right to attend the burial nor are they informed where their loved one is buried. In addition, Amnesty International (AI) is concerned that in most countries in the region that do not execute anymore, relatives of death row prisoners have still not been able to find out where their loved ones were buried. In Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, for example, the Criminal-Execution Codes still stipulate that the place of burial is not disclosed.
