EU condemns new death sentence in Belarus
The representation of the European Commission has disseminated a statement on that on 3 August.
‘This death sentence was issued by Minsk city court to Andrei Zhuk. A month earlier another death sentence was issued,’ the document reads. The EU called upon Belarus to lift death penalty, and first impose moratorium on its execution.
The EU reminds about statements done by the government of Belarus over the last several months. It was stated that the government plans to limit and later abolish death penalty.
The EU reminds about the resolution of the PACE approved on 23 June 2009. It said the special guest status for the Belarusian parliament would be restored only after Belarus imposed a moratorium on the death penalty.
The document underlines that the EU is against any use of the capital punishment in any cases and any conditions, and consistently calls upon its abolition worldwide. ‘The EU is convinced that ban on the death penalty is the main element of defense of human dignity and progressive development of human rights’, the statement reads.
The candidate countries (Turkey, Croatia and Macedonia), the countries of the Stabilization and Association Process, the potential candidate countries Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia, the European Free Trade Association countries and members of the European Economic Area Iceland and Norway, as well as Ukraine aligned themselves with this statement.
Bear in mind that on 17 July the court of Minsk oblast sentenced killers of two officers of Bolshevik-Agro company in the Minsk region to death and life imprisonment. A chief economist (female) and a driver of Bolshevik-Agro company (male) were killed in the Salihorsk district at the end of February this year. One accused was sentenced to death, and another accused in this case got life imprisonment.
On 29 June this year, Brest oblast court sentenced a 30-year-old murderer of six pensioners in Drahichyn district to death.
