Belarus is urged to stop death
Amnesty
International has distributed an urgent press release with a call on
the Belarusian authorities to stop the execution of a death verdict
and introduce a moratorium on the death penalty.
The reason
for the call was the information of 30 April of Mahiliou Region
Prosecutor's Office where the death verdict was issued.
"The
panel of judges on criminal cases of Mahiliou Regional Court
convicted two citizens for a killing committed by a group of
individuals. The men were convicted for killing a cell-mate while
serving prison terms for earlier crimes. According to the aggregate
of their crimes, one of them was sentenced to death and the other –
to 16 years of imprisonment.
The prosecutor's office stated
that the man who was sentenced to death was a very negative person
who presented a great social danger. The killed cell-mate was his
fourth victim. The crimes he committed before this were also grave
and especially grave ones.
Amnesty International also
expressed a deep concern in connection with the secrecy surrounding
the death penalty in Belarus and stated that torture can be used
towards convicts.
Belarus remains the only European country
where death verdicts are still issued and implemented. The country is
always criticized for it by the international organizations which
struggle for the abolishment of the death penalty. In 2012 Dzmitry
Kanavalau and Uladzislau Kavalyou were sentenced to death for
committing a terrorist act on 11 April 2011 in Minsk. According to
Amnesty International, one more death sentence was executed last year
apart from these two.
