Belarus is the last country in Europe where the death penalty is still legal practice.
Aleh Hulak, Head of Belarusian Helsinki Committee, considers the capital punishment as “a humiliation of individuals, of law, and of modernity as such.”
Barbarianism
Joining the campaign Human Rights Defenders Against Death Penalty in Belarus, Mr Hulak, below left, signed the petition which calls upon Belarusian authorities to deal with this problem head-on. He uses ideas of humanity as his main arguments:
“I believe that Belarus must abolish the death penalty. It is savage to allow the state to murder a human being in the XXI century. The death penalty is a humiliation of individuals. It is a humiliation of the law. It is a humiliation of the modernity.
I think that the state, the state bodies should, first of all, declare a moratorium on the execution of death sentences. Then they should abolish the death penalty writing this kind of punishment off the Criminal Code. This would be an essential step towards the humanization of the Belarusian society.”
Lukashenka: people against abolition
Meanwhile the Belarusian authorities are considering an information campaign directed at possibilities of abolishing the capital punishment. According to BelTA, state information agency, president Aliaksandr Lukashenka, below right, said about it in an interview to the Italian daily La Stampa.
Lukashenka reminded that this matter was decided upon at the referendum in 1996. An overwhelming majority of citizens voted for preservation of the death penalty.
According to the Belarusian Constitution questions decided upon the referendum can only be overturned by another referendum. Lukashenka was certain that if there were a new plebiscite the result would be the same as in 1996.
The President shared: “A week ago we decided to start a series of events in this direction [death penalty abolition] starting with a debate in Parliament and a media campaign. But the opinion of the nation will determine one whether the capital punishment would be annulled or not.”
Europe: political will is necessary
At the meeting with students of Belarusian State University Jean-Louis Laurens, below left, Director General of the Directorate General of Democracy and Political Affairs of the Council of Europe, explained that there is a political dimension at stake as well.
“Annulling the capital punishment is not the point. The general acceptance of Council of Europe requirements which are made for every country willing to become a member of the organization is what important.”
Further, Mr Laurens elaborated that the political will of the Belarusian authorities was instrumental in the process of abolition. For instance, the French government passed a law to annul capital punishment contrary to the opinion of the majority of the country’s population. It is the only kind of punishment, however, that cannot be revised once it is done. Innocent ones can be executed if judicial errors happen.
It is exactly this reason that was the key point behind the idea of annulling capital punishment in European countries. “The substitution of capital punishment with life imprisonment is a more dreadful punishment for the criminal,” Jean-Louis Laurens was convinced.
