Amnesty International urges Belarus not to execute death row prisoner Viktar Serhel
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- Viktar Serhel. Photo: tut.by
Amnesty International has launched an urgent action in support of Viktar Serhel, death row prisoner who lost his appeal to the Supreme Court on January 31 and may be thus executed at any moment.
“Serhil can now appeal to President Lukashenka for clemency but this is extremely unlikely to be granted,” Amnesty International said calling on its members worldwide to write to the Presidential Clemency Commission.
“Viktar Serhil was convicted of a terrible crime but no state should resort to the death penalty, whatever the crime. The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and has no place in any criminal justice system today,” says a sample letter.
On October 25, 2019, the Brest Regional Court found Viktar Serhel guilty of murdering an eight-month-old girl and sentenced him to death. His co-defendant and mother of the child, Natallia Kolb, was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment as women cannot be sentenced to death in Belarus.
