The annual Week Against the Death Penalty will be held in Belarus for the ninth time from October 5 to 10. Read more…
The Committee concludes that that Mikhalenia’s right to life under article 6 of the Covenant was violated, since he was sentenced to death after an unfair trial. Read more…
Death row prisoner Viktar Skrundzik has been executed, according to a report by the government-controlled broadcaster STV. Read more…
Illia Kostseu and Stanislau Kostseu, two brothers and former death row prisoners, have been allowed to see their family for the first time since they were pardoned in April 2021, according to their sister Hanna. Read more…
Andrei Paluda, human rights defender of the Human Rights Center "Viasna" and coordinator of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders against the Death Penalty in Belarus”, has left Belarus after detention and imminent criminal charges. Read more…
The death penalty in Belarus is a relevant and urgent Global Justice issue, as the global community represented by international institutions can push the state in Belarus towards abolition. Read more…
Statement by the Spokesperson on a likely execution Read more…
Death row inmate Viktar Paulau was “most likely executed,” the convict’s sister Raisa told Andrei Paluda, coordinator of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders against the Death Penalty in Belarus”. Read more…
The Judicial Chamber on Criminal Case of the Supreme Court of Belarus has dismissed an appeal filed by death row prisoner Viktar Skrundzik. The convict will be executed, unless pardoned by Aliaksandr Lukashenka. Read more…
Illia Kostseu and Stanislau Kostseu, two brothers sentenced to death in January 2020, have been pardoned, according to their relatives. Read more…
While there was an overall trend of decline, some countries pursued or even increased the number of executions carried out, indicating a chilling disregard for human life at a time when the world’s attention focused on protecting people from a deadly virus. Read more…
Tamara Chikunova, the world-renowned Uzbek activist of the global abolitionist movement, died in Italy on March 31, the Community of Sant'Egidio said. Read more…
Vladimir Vardanyan (Armenia, EPP/CD), General Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the abolition of the death penalty, has condemned the handing down in Belarus of a death sentence on Viktar Skrundzik for the murder of two elderly people and an attempt to murder an elderly woman in January 2019. Read more…
At a court hearing held today in the city of Sluck, the Minsk Regional Court handed down a death verdict to Viktar Skrundzik on charges of killing two elderly persons and attempting to murder an 85-year-old woman in January 2019. Three other defendants in the trial were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. Read more…
Today on the World and European Day Against the Death Penalty, the European Union and the Council of Europe reaffirm their opposition to the use of capital punishment in all circumstances and call for the universal abolition of the death penalty. We welcome the continued decline in the use of the death penalty, confirming the overall trend towards universal abolition. Read more…