Mother of a death convict applies to the head of the Belarusian Orthodox Church
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- Patriarchal Exarche of the whole Belarus, Filaret
Tamara Siliun calls on Filaret to apply
to President Lukashenka with a clemency petition and a request to
abolish the death sentence towards her son.
On 12 September
the Hrodna Regional Court found Pavel Siliun guilty under four
articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus – Article
139, part 2 paragraphs 1 and 6 (killing of two persons, committed
with an especial cruelty); Article 205, part 1 (theft); Article 347,
part 1 (mockery at corpses) and Article 378 (theft of personal
documents), and sentenced him to the death penalty on the aggregate
of all crimes. The trial was lead by Judge Anatol Zayats.
The
mother of the death convict applied to the Patriarchal Exarche of the
whole Belarus Filaret. In her letter the woman states that her son
deeply regrets about the lost lives of his victims and sympathizes
with their friends and relatives. “However, I am his mother and I
am concerned with his fate. Of course, he must serve a penalty, but
not by taking away the life which was granted by the God. I heard
over the radio that you are also against the death penalty, and your
ecclesiastical rank inspires it too. You are respected by President,
that's why I apply to You with a request: “please, address
Aliaksandr Ryhoravich with a petition for clemency and abolish the
death verdict to my son”.
The coordinator of the campaign
“Human rights defenders against the death penalty” Andrei Paluda
stated that on 17 September the Supreme Court would consider the
cassation appeal of Pavel Siliun on the verdict.
“We think
that the defendant must get a due punishment, but are blankly against
the death penalty”, said the human rights defender.
The
Patriarchal Exarche of Belarus, Metropolitan Filaret repeatedly
issued statements about the reasonableness of refusing from the death
penalty.
“Belarusian Orthodox Church has insistently drawn
the public attention to the problem of the death penalty back in the
1990-ies. In 1996, on the eve of the referendum, at which the death
penalty was one of the points of discussion, we called the Belarusian
people to refuse from this kind of penalty. “We are Christians and
cannot justify the death penalty, because this is the sin of
murder... The life of each human being belongs to his Creator, God.
It wasn't us, sinful people, who gave this life and we have no right
to deprive anyone of it, because our God Jesus Christ sacrificed his
life for each of us, having experienced sufferings, insults, mockery
and death on the Cross... The State which kills its own citizens
crucifies Christ anew each time.” This was our position during the
year of the referendum. It remains unchanged,” emphasized the head
of the Belarusian Chrurch.
