News
Brest: action against death penalty
On 10 August in Brest members of Young Front held an action for the abolition of death penalty in Belarus. The activists held out leaflets of Amnesty International in Savetskaya Street in the center of the city. Read more…
EU condemns new death sentence in Belarus
The representation of the European Commission has disseminated a statement on that on 3 August. Read more…
Authorities responded to PACE – another death sentence delivered
The Court of the Minsk region sentenced killers of two officers of Bolshevik-Agro company in the Minsk region to death and life imprisonment. “Two dwellers of Salihorsk, found guilty of murder of two officers of the company, were sentenced to death and life imprisonment,” Interfax learnt from the prosecutor’s office of the Minsk region. According to a source of the agency, another accused in this case got 13 years in prison, he was found guilty of aiding killing. The prosecutor’s office noted the court found “two people guilty of killing 2 persons committed by a group of people for selfish motives.” Read more…
Belarus defies Council of Europe call for a moratorium
The authorities in Belarus continue to ignore international pressure on them to declare a moratorium on the death penalty, Amnesty International and the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, said today. The two organizations have just learnt that the Brest regional court sentenced a 30-year-old man to death on 29 June. The sentence was pronounced less than a week after the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly voted on 23 June in favour of restoring the Special Guest status to the Parliament of Belarus on the condition that Belarus declares a moratorium on the execution of the death penalty. Read more…
Amnesty International and Belarusian Helsinki Committee adopted joint statement concerning new death sentenced in Belarus
‘The Belarusian authorities continue to ignore international pressure on them to declare a moratorium on the death penalty’, RFE/RL quotes a press release of Amnesty International. Read more…
Another death sentence in Belarus
Brest oblast court sentenced a 30-year-old man to death for multiple murders. His 2-year-old accomplice got a life sentence with serving the punishment in a high-security penal colony. Read more…
Judiciary said to be ready for death penalty abolition
Belarus’ judicial system is ready to introduce a moratorium on the death penalty, Supreme Court Chairman Valyantsin Sukala told reporters in Minsk on June 25. “If the constitution of Belarus describes this exceptional type of punishment as temporary, this clause will inevitably entail its abolition,” he said. Mr. Sukala said that a moratorium on capital punishment could be an intermediate stage, describing the measure as “quite realistic and well-founded.” Read more…
Hrodna human rights activists fight against death penalty
Members of Viasna’s Hrodna office held a three-day civil campaign against the death penalty. The action was joined by several other opposition activists, including members of the UCPB, Young Democrats and the Civil Forum. The activists distributed calendars with an inscription ‘Belarus is the only European country, which still uses the death penalty.’ They also informed local residents of the situation with the death penalty both in Europe and in Belarus. Read more…
Head of Lukashenka’s administration Makei speaks on death penalty moratorium
Uladzimir Makei, head of the Administration of President Lukashenka, has promised to declare a moratorium on executing death penalties in Belarus in case the country establishes close relationships with the Council of Europe. ‘In case Belarus decides to join the Council of Europe, we will have to raise the issue of introducing a moratorium on the death penalty,’ says Mr.Makei. ‘The issue of the death penalty should not be considered as something stiff. I have had a meeting with Mr.Rigoni, PACE Special Rapporteur on Belarus, and we were discussing the issue for a long time. We have already reduced the number of criminal articles providing for the death penalty, and in practice the sentence has begun to be seldom used. Read more…
Deputy head of the presidential administration: the introduction of moratorium on death penalty is possible
The question of introduction of moratorium on death penalty in Belarus is at the stage of discussion, stated the deputy head of the presidential administration Valer Mitskevich. Read more…
Liavon Volski: ‘We will not change anything by killing a man who has committed even a very terrible crime. Besides, it will cause more bloodthirstiness’
The founder of the rock-bands Mroya, NRM and the musical project Krambambulia Liavon Volski has joined the campaign against the death penalty, launched by the Belarusian human rights defenders. Read more…
‘Death’ was walking on Niamiha in the company of policemen in mufti
On 5 June several volunteers of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee tried held a theatric performance for abolishment of the death penalty in Belarus. Read more…
Hanna Khitryk: ‘The state must not kill people. The state is the people who we elected, who we rely on and who we trust. If the people who we trust will be assassins, what people are they and what people are we if we have elected them?’
The actor of Yanka Kupala National Theater Hanna Khitryk, songwriter of the Detidetey rock band has jointed the campaign against the death penalty in Belarus. Expressing her opinion on this issue, Hanna pointed that ‘to wish somebody death is to spoil oneself… and if you are for the death penalty, you are also for war’. Read more…
Belarus may consider declaring moratorium on death penalty, says MP Hlaz
According to Anatol Hlaz, deputy of the House of Representatives and vice-head of Human Rights, National Relations and Mass Media Parliamentary Committee, the Belarusian authorities may soon declare a moratorium on the death penalty. ‘Now we can work out the necessary legislative grounds for declaring a moratorium on the death penalty,’ says Mr.Hlaz. He also stressed that it could ‘facilitate establishing a dialogue with Europe.’ Read more…
Mikhail Pastukhou: ‘The abolition of the death penalty is a sign of the state’s and the society’s achievement of a certain level of development when the human life is recognized as the supreme value not to be defied by anyone, including the state’
Mikhail Pastukhou, famous lawyer and human rights expert, head of the Legal Aid Center of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, ex-judge of the Belarusian Supreme Court (1994-1996), has joined the civil campaign promoting the abolition of the capital punishment in Belarus ‘Human Rights Activists against the Death penalty.’ He stresses that the issue is ripe and certain measures should be taken. Read more…
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