On 12 June Hrodna Regional Court convicted 23-year-old resident of Vileika of double murder and passed a death sentence – the sanction of last resort.
On 14 June, the Homel Regional Court reached a verdict in a criminal case against 25-year-old man accused of killing a student.Murder with extreme atrocity occurred on 20 September 2012 when the victim had suffered 102 stab wounds. The girl died just few meters away from her house. It is known that prior to that the murderer has been sentenced to 8 years for causing severe bodily harm to cohabiter of his mother. The man died of severe wounds. Sentenced Aliaksandr Harunou was at large for only a year.
The court agreed with the demands of the state prosecutor and sentenced a young man to death sentence by shooting. The verdict may may still be appealed.
“A person sitting in the dock presents a high danger to the society and must be given the hardest punishment possible” – said the prosecutor.
The mother of the accused said that she wanted her son to get punishment by imprisonment for 25 years: “He did not see anything good in life and now this thing – they ask for his death.His father was murdered when he was a child and the police did not find the killers. Yes, he murdered my cohabiter, but he was a bum, was on the tramp, he picked bottles. My son defended his girlfriend, there was a conflict between his girl and my cohabiter ” – the mother of the accused said.
The representative of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee in the Homel region Viktar Adzinochanka, who was present at the trial is against the death penalty :
– We, human rights activists consistently oppose the death penalty. But in this case I am against his death sentence purely in a humane way. In my opinion, this is a man who behaves inadequate. That does not even protect himself. He was given the opportunity to have the last word. But he was silent.
Prosecutor General of Belarus unhappy about the attention drawn to the sentences and sees no other options for punishments. 
The Prosecutor General of Belarus Aliaksandr Kaniuk (left) expressed dissatisfaction with the position of the media and human rights defenders in regard to recently passed death sentences in Homel and Hrodna.
“There is again howl set up in the media. What are they shouting about? They whine about the fate of the man who took several innocent lives. Yet no one talked to the mother of 22-year-old girl who was murdered, no one asked how the relatives of victims will live on” – said Prosecutor General, speaking in the House of Representatives.
According to Aliaksandr Kaniuk, “today there is a shift, when some care more about the criminals, not the victims.”
“The whine has begun, how one is going to correct the criminal, who cut off the head and went around the country with it in a bag? What to do with a villain who inflicted 122 stab wounds of the victim? “- rhetorically asked the Prosecutor General of the country.
Human rights defenders draw attention to the situation with a death sentence for the murder of cellmate 
Human rights defenders are concerned about the situation around Ruhor Yuzepchuk, who was sentenced to death for killing his cellmate in prison in Mahiliou.
The human rights organization Amnesty International calls on the Belarusian authorities to abolish the death penalty for Ryhor Yuzepchuk, to introduce a moratorium on the death penalty in Belarus and to investigate how Yuzepchuk succeeded in killing a cellmate in prison, subject to the Interior Ministry of Belarus.
According to media reports the three prisoners had staked their lives on a game of dominos and the losing prisoner was strangled with a scarf on 5 July 2012. Ryhor Yuzepchuk has not denied killing his cellmate. He was serving a 25-year sentence for murder, and had been previously convicted. The killing of Rygor Yuzepchuk’s cellmate was carried out in a prison under the authority of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which has a duty to protect those in custody ” – wrote Amnesty International in the statement.
“In Belarus, death sentences are often imposed after unfair trials which include forced confessions; they are implemented in strict secrecy and without giving adequate notice to the inmates themselves, their families or legal representatives. The authorities refuse to return the bodies of those executed to their relatives or even tell them where they are buried; and executions are carried out despite requests from the UN Human Rights Committee to the government not to carry out the executions” – said Amnesty International, calling to write about the case of the death sentence to Ryhor Yuzepchuk to President Aliaksandr Lukashenka, Prosecutor General Aliaksandr Kaniuk and Interior Minister Ihar Shunevich.
Human rights defenders against discrimination of convicted persons based on their nationality
On 1 June the TV channel “Belarus-1” broadcast programme “Secrets of the Investigation” which showed the story of the murder of cellmate committed by Ryhor Yuzepchuk and his accomplice in Mahiliou prison.The nationality of Yuzepchuk is repeatedly indicated In the context of his negative characteristics.The authors of the story used phrases like “with the gypsy Yuzepchuk everything was clear”, “with poorly educated gypsy Yuzepchuk”, “according to the words of the gypsy,” “the convicted gypsy Yuzepchuk” etc. At the same nationality of his accomplice Pavel Petrakou and their victim Ihar Hodanau who also have extremely negative personal traits is not specified in the story.
According to human rights defender Valiantsin Stefanovich, such indication of the nationality of the perpetrator may contribute to xenophobia and discriminatory behavior in the society, as well as the formation of extremely negative treatment of representatives of the entire Roma minority in our country .
“This practice is incorrect in relation to citizens of the Roma minority and is indicative of low professional qualities of the journalists who allow such generalizations,” says human rights defender.
Human rights defender Valiantsin Stefanovich sent an appeal to the chairman of BTRC Henadz Davydzka, which points out that this is, unfortunately, is not the first time that a criminal chronicle of the Belarusian TV indicates the Roma nationality of criminals or those suspected of committing crimes .He urges Davydzka to check on the facts, as well as to instruct the authors of the program on the inadmissibility of such incidents in the future.
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