Belarusian human rights community insists on abolition of the death penalty

According to reliable information, on 5 November 2016, Ivan Kulesh, Siarhei Khmialeuski and Henadz Yakavitski were executed in secret in the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ jail No. 1 in Minsk.

Four persons have been executed in Belarus in 2016, including Siarhei Ivanou, who was shot in April, while the fate of another death convict held on death row in the Minsk detention center, Siarhei Vostrykau, is still unknown, as his death sentence has already come into force.

Belarus is the last country in Europe, which still applies this inhumane and barbaric type of punishment.

We, representatives of the human rights community of Belarus, condemn the recent executions and stress the following.

The death penalty, which is imposed and enforced on behalf of all citizens of the Republic of Belarus, denies human dignity and integrity of the individual and is in no way a deterrent to crime rates. According to our deep conviction, the execution of those sentenced to death is on a par with slavery and torture, it is an extreme form of cruel and inhuman, barbaric and immoral treatment, totally unacceptable in contemporary society.

The availability and application of capital punishment pose an imminent threat of executing the innocent, a threat of executions for political purposes. None of the judicial systems of the world, including that in Belarus, is perfect enough to insure against a miscarriage of justice.

We are particularly concerned about Belarus’ repeated ignoring of the UN Human Rights Committee's procedures dealing with the individual communications of persons sentenced to death. In spite of these procedures, executions are a violation of the country’s international obligations in the field of human rights, voluntarily undertaken by its government. It is worth recalling that the UN Human Rights Committee adopted six decisions on individual complaints by Belarusian citizens, which found violations of their right to life, while a ban on handing over the bodies of the executed for burial was deemed as inhuman treatment against their family members.

We, representatives of the human rights community of Belarus, once again reaffirm our position on the total non-acceptance of the death penalty in all circumstances. We are part of a worldwide movement against the death penalty and stand for its global abolition. We once again call on the Belarusian authorities to:

• abolish the death penalty and apply alternative forms of punishment, including life imprisonment, for those convicted of most serious crimes.
• immediately introduce a moratorium on the death penalty as a first step towards its complete abolition.

We call on the international community to condemn the recent executions in Belarus.

Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House

Belarusian Association of Journalists

Belarusian Documentation Center

Belarusian Helsinki Committee

Belarusian PEN Center

Center for Legal Transformation

Committee for Protection of the Repressed "Solidarity"

Human Rights Center "Viasna"

Human Rights Defenders against the Death Penalty in Belarus

Office for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities