This year’s second death sentence handed down in Minsk (updated)
Siarhei Khmialeuski. Photo: tut.by.
According to preliminary information received by representatives of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders Against the Death Penalty in Belarus”, the Minsk Regional Court has sentenced to death Siarhei Khmialeuski, 31, resident of the town of Mačuliščy, Minsk region.
Based on available information, this sentence was imposed after a review of the criminal case in which the person was earlier sentenced to life imprisonment.
According to naviny.by, the man committed the brutal murder of several people.
Earlier, Siarhei Khmialeuski had been repeatedly convicted of theft, robbery, hooliganism, assault, involving a minor in the commission of a crime and evading punishment of restraint of liberty.
In the latest case, he was charged with the murder of two or more persons committed with particular cruelty for the purpose of concealing another crime or facilitating its commission. He was also accused of theft, attempted deliberate destruction or damage to property, and failure to comply with the requirements of preventive supervision.
According to Tut.by, the criminal case was opened in November 2014, after firefighters found the charred bodies of a 49-year-old local man and his 48-year-old partner while fighting a fire in a private house in Minsk region. The bodies had multiple stab wounds, which made the investigators believe that the house was set on fire in order to conceal the traces of the crime.
Leaving the scene of the crime, the defendant met a 57-year-old villager. Wanting to get rid of a witness, he pushed him into a concrete pit. As a result, the victim received numerous serious injuries and died in hospital a few weeks later.
The verdict is this year’s second death sentence. On January 5, the Minsk Regional Court sentenced Henadz Yakavitski to death, finding him guilty of murder committed with special cruelty.
