PACE welcomes creation of task group on death penalty at Belarus’ Parliament
MINSK, 4 February (BelTA) – Mevlut Cavusoglu, the chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) welcomes the creation of the task group to study death penalty at the National Assembly of Belarus. He made this statement in his speech to the members of the assembly, BelTA learnt from the PACE press service.
He supported the idea of creating the task group and, on behalf of PACE, expressed the readiness to share the experience of the Council of Europe’s member states with Belarusian MPs in this area. According to Mevlut Cavusoglu, there are no significant grounds in Belarus to continue practicing the death penalty.
“The setting up of the task group is a positive step in the right direction. PACE is ready to help the Belarusian parliament in this process,” Mevlut Cavusoglu assured.
A reminder, in June 2009 PACE adopted the eighth amendment to call upon the Council of Europe Bureau to cancel the suspension of the special guest status for Belarus after Belarusian authorities ban capital punishment. The Belarusian delegation had a Special guest Status at PACE since 1992. In 1997 the status was suspended.
