Andrei Paluda: it is extremely important to inform people on the problem of death penalty
The issue of abolition of the death penalty in Belarus should not be solved artificially and briskly. The society “should maturate for it”, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Uladzimir Makei said in an interview.
Andrei Paluda, coordinator of a campaign “Human Rights Defenders Against Death Penalty” does not consider this argument persuasive.
– It is not easy to understand what did Minister of Foreign Affairs Makei mean by saying that the society “should maturate” for abolishing the death penalty. Within the campaign “Human Rights Defenders Against Death Penalty” we say that it is extremely important to inform the people on the problem of death penalty in order to make them aware of how cruel and inhuman this punishment is. We are not going just sit and wait until “society will maturate” for it.
Uladzimir Makei recalled that during 1996 referendum, more than 80% of Belarusian citizens voted against the abolition of death penalty. Andrei Paluda, however, argues that the authorities do not bother themselves to ask the society’s opinion on important issues, so the vote on morality issues is incongruous.
