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7 Law & Admin. Post-Soviet Eur. 1 (2020)

handle is hein.journals/lape7 and id is 1 raw text is: sciendo LAW AND ADMINISTRATION IN POST-SOVIET EUROPE Vot. UVII)/2020: 1-10 DOI: 10.2478/lape-2020-0001 Agnieszka Wedel-Domaradzka Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego, Bydgoszcz POSTMORTAL ISSUES OF SMOLENSK TRAGEDY AGAINST THE OBLIGATIONS OF ART. 2 OF EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS Key words: death, postmortal problems, responsibility, state obligations, death bodies, catastrophes, post mortem examination Abstract The main aim of the study is to analyze posthumous problems that concern the victims of the Smolensk disaster in the context of positive obligations of the state. The first element of the analysis will concern the standards of dealing with the bodies of disaster victims as soon as they occur. The second aspect will include the obligation to notify of death along with other obliga- tions and information on victims. Then, issues related to the transport of corpses and the opening of coffins will be described, and finally the regulations regarding uninterrupted burial. The analysis of the above issue presented in the work will be carried out taking into account regional human rights protection standards and the ECtHR's judicial practice. Both soft and hard law standards will be included in the analysis. Introduction The law refers to the postmortal matters with high re- spect. It stems from the dignity that is natural to a hu- man being. However, legal regulations entirely devoted possibly the right of the relatives next of kin to perform the funeral rituals. The last two aspects are protected on the ground of freedom from inhuman and degrad- ingtreatment2 as well as (in their majority) the right to respect private and family life3. This multi-aspect analy- to the issue of death do not include to many space in sis guarantees not only the broader perception on the international legal acts. If they do regard the issue of death it is in the context of humanitarian law. Whereas on the ground of human rights the analyses are con- ducted regarding the protection of the right to life' and 1 The right to life is included for instance in: UDHR, art. 3; ICCPR, art. 6; ECHR, art. 2, (in:) Human Rights. Interna- tional Documents, ed. B. Gronowska, T. Jasudowicz, C. Mik, Torun 1993, p. 20, 39, 133. 2 Freedom from tortures is guaranteed in: UDHR, art. 5; ICCPR, art. 7; ECHR, art. 3, ibidem. s The right for the protection of private and family life is determined in art. 12 UDHR, ICCPR, art. 17; ECHR art. 8, ibidem.