News on the topic: death penalty
26.07.2018 Death row prisoner Ihar Hershankou loses 18 kilos on hunger strike
Ihar Hershankou started his hunger strike on June 27 to protest violations of his right to correspondence, after all his complaints, including to the Prosecutor General, the Department of Corrections and Belarus’s envoy to the UN, as well as many letters to relatives, failed not reach their destinations.
23.07.2018 Amnesty International: Iranian in Belarus at risk of imminent deportation, faces death penalty in home country
Iranian citizen Mehrdad Jamshidian, who suffers from acute ill-health, was detained on 14 June in Belarus. He is at imminent risk of deportation to Iran, where he may be subjected to torture and the death penalty for ‘apostasy’ and murder accusations.
16.07.2018 UN Human Rights Committee registers complaint of death convict Hershankou
On July 13, the UN Human Rights Committee confirmed the registration of an individual communication submitted on behalf of Ihar Hershankou, who was sentenced to death by the Mahilioŭ Regional Court on July 21, 2017.
26.06.2018 Death row prisoner Ihar Hershankou goes on hunger strike
Ihar Hershankou, who was earlier sentenced to death, says he is beginning a hunger strike while on death row in Minsk’s detention center No. 1 to protest numerous violations of his right to correspondence, Viasna learned from the prisoner’s mother.
18.06.2018 Amnesty International: Unprecedented Supreme Court decision to suspend death sentences
"This is a hugely significant and unprecedented decision for the only country in the region that has continued to execute people all these years."
31.05.2018 PACE rapporteurs condemn two recent executions in Belarus
Yves Cruchten (Luxembourg, SOC), General Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the abolition of the death penalty, and Andrea Rigoni (Italy, ALDE), former PACE rapporteur on the situation in Belarus, have strongly condemned the execution of Aliaksei Mikhalenia and Viktor Liotau, which reportedly took place in secret in mid-May.
30.05.2018 EU deplores two new executions in Belarus
Statement by the Spokesperson on the application of the death penalty in Belarus
30.05.2018 Supreme Court confirms death sentences for Zhylnikau and Sukharko
The Supreme Court has upheld the death sentences earlier handed down to Aliaksandr Zhylnikau and Viachaslau Sukharko for the murder of three people. The judgment was pronounced after the court completed hearing Zhylnikau’s appeal, while Sukharko refused to challenge the verdict.
30.05.2018 CoE: Capital punishment has no place in Europe
Spokesperson of the Secretary General: Statement by the Spokesperson on reported executions in Belarus
29.05.2018 EU ‘actively engaged with Belarus on death penalty’, says Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy
In 2017, the EU actively engaged with the Belarusian authorities on the death penalty and took action to raise awareness, as Belarus remained the only country in Europe that still applied the death penalty, Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy said.
29.05.2018 Two more executions reported in Belarus
Two death convicts, Aliaksei Mikhalenia and Viktar Liotau, have been recently executed, according to Viachaslau Sukharko, another death row inmate whose appeal was heard today at the Supreme Court.
24.05.2018 Death penalty: Belarus must be accountable to someone
Belarus is the last country in Europe to apply the death penalty. It often does so in secret.
15.05.2018 The secret executions in Europe's 'last dictatorship'
When the guards come, these inmates never know if it is for the last time. On death row in Belarus, the only country in Europe that still uses the death penalty, they are never told when they will be executed. And when it happens, it is all kept as a state secret.
19.04.2018 Time to act towards true abolition of the death penalty, say HRDs
On April 18, Minsk hosted a round table entitled “Legal aspects of the abolition of the death penalty in Belarus”. The event was organized by the Council of Europe and involved members of the Belarusian Parliament’s lower chamber and representatives of NGOs, including the Human Rights Center “Viasna”.
12.04.2018 Belarus still only executioner in Europe and Central Asia
“In Europe and Central Asia, Belarus was the only country to execute people. The country carried out at least two executions in 2017; at least four new death sentences were imposed,” Amnesty International said in its Annual Report on the death penalty.
