Belarus executes another death convict

According to the family of Siarhei Khmialeuski, the death convict has been executed.

“His relatives had not received any letters from him for more than a month. However, last week the relatives brought some money for him and the jail staff took it. Today, they went to see him and they were told that the sentence had been carried out.

In addition, for a month already, there have been no letters from another death convict, Henadz Yakavitski. So far, we have no information about his fate,” said Andrei Paluda, coordinator of the campaign Human Rights Defenders against the Death Penalty in Belarus.

Meanwhile, on August 3 the UN Human Rights Committee confirmed the registration of an individual communication submitted by Khmialeuski and asked the Belarusian authorities to postpone his execution, while his case was pending before the Committee.

Siarhei Khmialeuski, 31, was sentenced to death for the brutal murder of three persons. The heavy sentence was imposed after a review of the criminal case, in which he was earlier sentenced to life imprisonment.

On May 6, the Supreme Court confirmed the sentence.

Shortly after this, Amnesty International issued an urgent appeal asking President Lukashenka to put an end to executions in Belarus.