Man sentenced to death in Naroŭlia Updated

The Homieĺ Regional Court pronounced today, March 17, a death sentence in the case of a 32-year-old resident of Naroŭlia, whose is name is not yet known. This is the first death sentence handed down in 2017.

The convict was accused of murdering two people, committed with special cruelty (para. 1, 6, 16, Part 2, Art. 139 of the Criminal Code).

The bodies were found on March 5, 2016 in a private house in Naroŭlia.

After a while, the police arrested the alleged murderer, who lived nearby. It is also known that the man had previously been convicted of theft and murder.

Volha Barsukova, spokesperson for the Homieĺ Regional Court, told BelTA on February 8 that the defendant pled partially guilty. According to the convict, he did not intend to kill his neighbors, saying that he was attacked by the victim after he came to his house, and the man had to defend himself.

UPD: According to Andrei Paluda, coordinator of the campaign "Human Rights Defenders Against the Death Penalty in Belarus", the convict's name is Aliaksei Mikhalenia.