Belarusians express their opinions about the death penalty
Last week, a discussion
was held in Minsk for the participants of the educational program
“Pcholka” ("Bee") on the subject of the death penalty
in Belarus. The event was attended by representatives of the campaign
"Human Rights Defenders against the Death Penalty" –
Andrei Paluda and Valiantsin Stefanovich.
Following the discussion,
the panelists wrote essays about their attitude to capital
punishment in Belarus. Here we present to your attention some
excerpts.
Vadzim
Skarabahaty
International
relations
First
of all, the death penalty is a wall between Europe and Belarus, which
deprives our country of membership in many international and European
organizations, an admission criterion to which is the abolition or a
moratorium on the death penalty.
Siarhei
Parashchanka
The
death penalty does not scare potential criminals
We
were assured that the death penalty reduces crime, but I have the
impression that, in principle , nothing has changed. Murders don't
stop, and we also have sad facts of terrorism. You see, the people
who engage in such crimes, cannot be stopped by the existence of the
death penalty.
Pavel
Shmotkin
Economic
factor
The maintenance of a
criminal costs about 150 thousand rubles per day, or 4.5 million
rubles a month.Belarus has a population of approximately 9,464
million. If you count , it appears that a citizen spends less than
one ruble (!), 0.475 rubles a month for the maintenance of a
criminal. In 2005, two people were sentenced to death, in 2006 – 9
people, in 2011 – 4 people. Thus, in 2005 each Belarusian saved
0.95 rubles, in 2006 – 4.27 rubles and in 2011 – 1.9 rubles.
However, there are cases when innocent people are convicted. So,
there are also cases when innocent people are punished by death. Is
such saving worth human lives?
Uladzimir
Yashchanka
People's
opinion about the death penalty has changed
More
than 17 years have passed since the referendum on the death penalty.
This gives the reasons to express the guess, that the public opinion
has changed since 1996. First of all, a new generation of young
people, born in the post-Soviet Belarus, has grown up, and these
people did not participate in the referendum. Secondly, if you look
at the neighboring countries, in all of them
there is either a moratorium on the death penalty or its abolition.
Veranika
Pustavit
Murder
is always murder, regardless of the reason
No
matter whom the people had decided to kill: be
it an ill baby (in Sparta), a Jew or a
homosexual (during
the Second World War). The society just kills.
Nothing changes if criminals are added to this list. If we kill this
very criminal, who has made a great mistake in his life, a new one
will still appear and hurt us. Do we need to kill everyone and remain
alone in this world then? Are we not be able
to overcome our flimsy horror? We can. I believe in it.
Alina
Haurova
The
death penalty is a
way to degradation
I am against
the death penalty, because this measure doesn't
help to save the country from criminals, but is a direct path to the
degradation of the
society, since the death penalty is
a rejection of the most basic human right – the right to life, and
the denial of the most important values - the value of the
human person.
Aliaksandr
Shkutsko
The
death penalty is
a relic of the time
This is an
archaism which should be abolished worldwide. We live in the 21st
century and must abandon medieval vestiges,
because the practice
has shown that the
existence of the death penalty has no effect on the crime
rate.
Maryna Kastylianchenka
In
my opinion, the death penalty shouldn't be used, because it is not a
certain judge, prosecutor or executor who is responsible for it. It
is the responsibility of each citizen of the country:
indifferent or concerned, young or adult.
Everyone who voted or didn't vote at the
referendum. Everyone
who thought about this problem or didn't think about it. Everyone!
And I'm not ready to be involved in the
killing.
