03.03.2010 Valiantsin Stefanovich: Human rights defenders welcome the participation of official representatives of Belarus in the 4th World Congress Against Death Penalty

The 4th World Congress against the Death Penalty took place in Geneva at the end of February. More than 1 500 lawyers, representatives of human rights organizations, well-known civil and political activists from almost 100 countries took part in the work of this forum.

24.02.2010 Switzerland hosts world congress against death penalty

Over a thousand human rights activists and lawyers from all over the world participate in the World Congress against the Death Penalty opened today in Geneva, Switzerland. Belarus is represented by activists of the Human Rights Activists against the Death Penalty campaign Valiantsin Stefanovich and Tatsiana Reviaka.

12.02.2010 Human rights defender Tamara Chikunova voices concern over retention of death penalty in Belarus

In the beginning of February, Tamara Chikunova, a well-known advocate of the death penalty abolition in Uzbekistan, paid a visit to Belarus. During a meeting with members of the HRC Viasna she told them about the problems one can face while defending the right to life. Chairperson of the Mothers against Death Penalty and Torture NGO also expressed her concern over the retention of the death penalty in Belarus and stated her wish to facilitate its final abolition.

10.02.2010 MP: life sentence can be as inhuman as death penalty

Members of the House of Representatives think it may take ten years to abolish the death penalty.

09.02.2010 39% of Belarusians support death penalty abolishment

39% of Belarusians support the idea of abolishment of the capital punishment and 48% are against it. This is the result of a recent survey conducted by the director of a sociometric laboratory “NOVAK” Andrei Vardamatski.

05.02.2010 PACE welcomes creation of task group on death penalty at Belarus’ Parliament

Mevlut Cavusoglu, the chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) welcomes the creation of the task group to study death penalty at the National Assembly of Belarus. He made this statement in his speech to the members of the assembly, BelTA learnt from the PACE press service.

28.01.2010 The Death Penalty in Belarus in 2009

The year of 2009 failed to become a turning point in the abolition or the declaration of a moratorium on the death penalty in Belarus. Belarus is still the only country in Europe and in the ex-Soviet area that keeps passing and executing death sentences. At the same time, for the first time in the history of independent Belarus the issue of the death penalty appeared in the forefront of wide public attention.

15.01.2010 Mongolian President announced death penalty moratorium

Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj has announced a moratorium on the death penalty, and called for the punishment to be abolished.

05.01.2010 Viktar Huminski: ‘Belarus has directly come to starting thorough, transparent and wide discussion on abolishing the death penalty’

Activists of the campaign Human rights activists against death penalty in Belarus received an answer to their address to the Chamber of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus.

22.12.2009 Authorities oppose UN’s consideration of communication by Zhuk’s mother

According to human rights activist Raman Kisliak, the Belarusian government appeals against the admissibility of communication filed by mother of death convict Andrei Zhuk, claiming that the facts mentioned are false, namely he allegedly failed to exhaust all domestic remedies.

18.12.2009 Minsk not to abandon death penalty soon

Belarus will not be able to abandon the death penalty in the near future, says Barys Batura, chair of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly, and therefore the authorities are not so far ready to implement the requirements of the Council of Europe and declare a moratorium on capital punishment.

16.12.2009 Amnesty International calls on Lukashenka to stop executions

The Amnesty International human rights organization calls on President Lukashenka to save two Belarusians from executions. Andrei Zhuk and Vasily Yuzepchuk are currently awaiting execution in Minsk. Their appeals have been turned down.

Both men have applied for clemency to President Alyaksandr Lukashenka - but Amnesty International knows of only one case in which clemency was granted since President Lukashenka took office in 1994.

16.12.2009 Hary Pahaniayla: ‘The state cannot be forced to commit murders itself’

Hary Pahaniayla, lawyer of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, expressed his view against the death penalty, in the framework of the campaign ‘Human Rights Activists against the Death Penalty in Belarus.’

10.12.2009 Human rights defenders pass petition to authorities

On the International Human Rights Day representatives of the Belarusian human rights community passed to the Presidential Administration a petition calling to abolish the death penalty as a kind of punishment that contradicts to the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution and international human rights treaties.

02.12.2009 Valiantsin Stefanovich: ‘No referendum is needed for the abolition of the death penalty, the legislation needs to be amended instead’

‘Legally, no referendum is needed for the abolition of the death penalty,’ says human rights activist and Viasna’s lawyer Valiantsin Stefanovich, commenting President Lukashenka’s recent statement in an interview with the La Stampa newspaper. Lukashenka said that the use of the death penalty is based on the results of the 1996 referendum and that, ‘under the Constitution, only another referendum can reverse its results.’