Haraszti urge the Government of Belarus to start an immediate moratorium on executions before the relevant legislation and court system can be reformed and capital punishment can be removed from the country’s Criminal Code. Belarus is the only European country that still retains the death penalty for certain crimes during times of peace and war.
– It is unacceptable that Belarusians must live in the fear that non transparent and politically-guided courts hand down death penalty sentences at the end of a procedure without guarantees of a fair trial or the right to appeal to international bodies, Haraszti stresses.
He describes the lack of transparency and statistics on death executions in Belarus as “deplorable”. -Defendants are executed by a gunshot to the back of the head, the relatives of those executed are not informed of the scheduled date of execution, neither are relatives informed of where the body is buried. The way the death penalty is carried out in Belarus amounts to inhuman treatment, says Mr. Haraszti.
Related articles
Use of death penalty continues in Belarus despite international pressure
Belarus: systemic and systematic human rights violations documented
Liubou Kavaliova, mother of the executed, is chosen as the Person of the Year in her native town
Belarus is putting itself aside of the international community
