Amnesty International: Belarus Is Only European Country That Uses Death Penalty

In its report for 2004 Amnesty International stated that more and more countries refused from death penalty. However, during the last year the number of the people to which it was applied was the greatest for the last 25 years. Meanwhile, Belarus is the only country that uses death penalty. In 2004 five people were executed. According to Amnesty International, among CIS countries only Belarus and Uzbekistan use this kind of punishment and both of them conceal some of the cases. AI states, about 50 people were sentenced to capital punishment and 4 executions were registered, though the court system of Belarus gives possibilities for mistakes and people are sentenced to death at unfair trial and on the basis of the testimonies, obtained with the use of tortures.