Europe denounces new death sentence in Belarus

Marina Schuster, PACE Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty, and Andres Herkel, rapporteur on the situation in Belarus, condemned newly passed death sentence in the country.

A court in the south-eastern Belarusan city of Homel has handed down the country's third death sentence this year. The court convicted and sentenced a 25-year-old man on June 14 for murder, reports RFE/RL.

Before that, on June 12, a court in the western city of Hrodna sentenced a 23-year-old suspect to death; and in April, a man was sentenced to death in the eastern city of Mahilou.

The Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly criticized Minsk then for issuing the first death sentence in Belarus since the execution of the two men convicted of the Minsk metro bombing in 2012.

As it is said in a joint statement of the EU rapporteurs, Marina Schuster and Andres Herkel expressed deep concern about the imposition of a new death penalty in Belarus.

Belarus is the only country in Europe where the death penalty is still used. The European institutions have repeatedly called on the official Minsk to abandon the death penalty.

Marina Schuster notes that the Council of Europe will continue its dialogue with Belarus only after the country declares a moratorium on the death penalty, HRC “Viasna” reports.

According to Andres Herkel, the meeting of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe scheduled for June 27 will touch upon the issue of the death penalty in order “to assess what role can be played by the Belarusan Parliament in its resolution.” He also claimed that the Political Committee has invited two members from the House of Representatives of Belarus to the meeting.

However, Aliaksandr Kanyuk, Belarusan Prosecutor General is said to defend death penalty. According to BelaPAN, he believes that the opponents of the death penalty have resumed their “wailing” after the imposition of new death sentences. “They are fighting for a person who took innocent lives,” – he said. 

“The wailing has started, but what should we do to a person who cut off his victim’s head, put it into a bag and carried it around?” he said. “What should we do to a person who stabbed his victim 122 times?” 

He also stressed that it was wrong to “defend and promote criminals.” Some people have gone so far as to accuse Belarusian authorities of imposing death sentences to have more trump cards in their game with Europe, he said. 

Let us recall that Belarus is the only country in Europe and the post-Soviet region where the death sentence remains a sentencing option and prisoners are executed. The European Union and other international organizations have repeatedly called on the Belarusian government to abolish the death penalty or declare a moratorium on it. Authorities refuse to say how many people are sentenced to death and executed in Belarus.