Belarus is urged to stop death

Amnesty International has distributed an urgent press release with a call on the Belarusian authorities to stop the execution of a death verdict and introduce a moratorium on the death penalty.

The reason for the call was the information of 30 April of Mahiliou Region Prosecutor's Office where the death verdict was issued.

"The panel of judges on criminal cases of Mahiliou Regional Court convicted two citizens for a killing committed by a group of individuals. The men were convicted for killing a cell-mate while serving prison terms for earlier crimes. According to the aggregate of their crimes, one of them was sentenced to death and the other – to 16 years of imprisonment.

The prosecutor's office stated that the man who was sentenced to death was a very negative person who presented a great social danger. The killed cell-mate was his fourth victim. The crimes he committed before this were also grave and especially grave ones.

Amnesty International also expressed a deep concern in connection with the secrecy surrounding the death penalty in Belarus and stated that torture can be used towards convicts.

Belarus remains the only European country where death verdicts are still issued and implemented. The country is always criticized for it by the international organizations which struggle for the abolishment of the death penalty. In 2012 Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzislau Kavalyou were sentenced to death for committing a terrorist act on 11 April 2011 in Minsk. According to Amnesty International, one more death sentence was executed last year apart from these two.


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