Despite international calls for its abolition, the death penalty remains an instrument for punishment in Belarus. In a country plagued by human rights abuses, with a history of violations of the right to a fair trial, the continued use of the death penalty is particularly alarming. The NGO Coalition Report ’Death Penalty in the Republic of Belarus’ reveals some concerning trends.

In Belarus, executions are being carried out in explicit  contradiction to requests made by the United Nations Human Rights Committee. Andrei Burdyka and Aleh Hryshautsou, were executed despite the fact that their cases were pending at the Human Rights Committee, which had requested that they not be executed before the results of their cases had been submitted. Furthermore, Burdyka and Hryshautsou alleged that they had been denied a fair trial, and had been subjected to torture during the pre-trial investigation. Andrei Zhuk and Vasily Yuzepchuk also suffered torture, and were executed despite the Human Rights Committee’s request for interim measures for their protection. In another case, Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzislau Kavalyou were denied clemency and executed despite their appeal to the Human Rights Committee, which Belarus declared as invalid, on the grounds that they had not exhausted all domestic measures.

This sense of impunity to international mechanisms spills over into the methods of executions employed by the Belarusian authorities. Executions in Belarus are carried out in a secretive manner, and as such, there is little transparence on the issue. There are no official statistics available on the number of executions in Belarus, furthermore, executions are carried out without prior warning to the victim or the family, and the victims’ bodies are not returned to their families, nor is the whereabouts of the grave disclosed.

The lack of respect demonstrated by the Belarusian authorities and in the practices relating to the administration of the death penalty, is particularly alarming. The NGO report demonstrates that the practices and methods employed by the Belarusian authorities in carrying out executions is in violation with international human rights standards and mechanisms, and is also denying victims and their families their basic human dignities.

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The followig organisations were responsible for the writing and submission of the NGO Coaltion Report, ‘Death Penalty in the Republic of Belarus’ :

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