Death penalty in Belarus

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The death penalty is being carried out in Belarus .

The Belarusian constitution provides for the death penalty for “serious crimes”. Later laws specified the offenses for which one could be sentenced to the death penalty. The death penalty can only be imposed if crimes have been committed against the state or against individuals. Belarus is the only state in Europe and the former Soviet Union that carries out the death penalty.

In a 1996 referendum in Belarus, over 80 percent of the Belarusians who voted voted in favor of the death penalty.

International organizations such as the United Nations have criticized the methods Belarus uses to carry out the death penalty.

The use of the death penalty is one reason why Belarus is still not a member of the Council of Europe . The Council of Europe has passed a number of resolutions.

legislation

Article 24 of the Belarusian Constitution states that until its abolition, in accordance with the law, the death penalty can be used as an exceptional punishment for particularly serious crimes and only in accordance with a court judgment.

The Belarusian Criminal Code allows the imposition of the death penalty for the following crimes:

  • Unleashing or conducting a war of aggression (Article 122 (2))
  • Murder of a representative of a foreign state or an international organization with the aim of sparking international tension or a war (Article 124 (2))
  • international terrorism (Article 126)
  • Genocide (Article 127)
  • Crimes against humanity (Article 128)
  • Use of weapons of mass destruction (Article 134)
  • Murder of a person in violation of international and customary law during war (Article 135 (3))
  • willful murder in aggravating circumstances (Article 139 (2))
  • Terrorism (Article 289 (3))
  • Treason combined with murder (Article 356 (2))
  • Conspiracy to seize power (Article 357 (3))
  • acts of terrorism (Article 359)
  • Sabotage (Article 360 ​​(2))
  • Murder of a Police Officer (Article 362)

Currently, the death penalty is only used for willful murder under aggravating circumstances.

Judicial proceedings in which the death penalty may be used must be decided by a body composed of a judge and two people from the people who have the same rights and obligations as the judge during the judicial process.

Article 84, paragraph 19 of the Constitution allows the President to pardon citizens . However, this was only applied once in 1996 when a death sentence was commuted to 20 years in prison. At that time there was no life imprisonment . Since it was introduced in the 1999 Criminal Code amendment, the president has been able to commute death sentences to life imprisonment.

Since March 1, 1994, women have not been allowed to use the death penalty. Persons who were under 18 at the time of the offense or who are older than 65 at the time of the conviction are also exempt from the death penalty. In addition, people who have committed the crime while having a mental disorder cannot be sentenced to the death penalty.

Over the years, the number of crimes for which one can be sentenced to the death penalty has been reduced. In 1993, following a vote in parliament, the death penalty for four white-collar crimes was replaced by imprisonment without parole.

With the 21st presidential decree on October 21, 1997, terrorism was added as a further criminal offense for which the death penalty can be imposed.

method

Generally, death row inmates are executed within six months of being sentenced. Before the execution , the death row inmates are taken to SISO (следственный изолятор) No. 1 remand prison in the capital, Minsk .

The death row inmates are not informed in advance of the date of their execution. Instead, the prisoner is taken to a room in which he is informed in the presence of the prison director, a public prosecutor, an employee of the Interior Ministry and a doctor that the pardon has been refused. Immediately afterwards, the prisoner is taken to the next room, where the execution will be carried out. The prisoner is blindfolded and forced to kneel in front of a shield that is supposed to catch the bullets. The prisoner is then shot in the neck using a pistol . The prisoner does not have the opportunity to say goodbye to his family. The body is not handed over to the family either, but is buried in a secret location.

According to Oleg Alkaev, the former head of the Minsk firing squad , the whole procedure, from the announcement of the denied pardon to the shot, takes no longer than two minutes. Between December 1996 and May 2001, while Alkaev was head of Minsk No. 1 Detention Center, he said about 130 executions took place. Alkaev then fled and has lived in Berlin ever since.

Number of executions

The following table shows an estimate of the death sentences and executions in Belarus since 1990:

year Number of convictions Number of executions
1990 20th ?
1991 21st ?
1992 24 24
1993 20th ?
1994 24 ?
1995 37 at least 1
1996 29 or 53 at least 24
1997 46 30th
1998 47 at least 33
1999 13 29 in the first 7 months or no more than 7
2000 4th no more than 7
2001 7th no more than 7
2002 4th 5 executions based on court rulings, and there were also cases of people disappearing
2003 4th no more than 7
2004 2 or at least 5 5
2005 2 4 or unclear
2006 9 ?
2007 4th at least 1
2008 2 4th
2009 2 0
2010 2 4th
2011 2 2
2012 0 at least 3
2013 3 or not known at least 4
2014 0 3
2015 2 0
2016 4th at least 4
2017 at least 4 at least 2
2018 at least 2 at least 4
2019 at least 3 at least 2

Since information on the death penalty is a state secret , it is difficult to obtain reliable data. According to the Belarusian Ministry of Justice, 326 people are said to have been sentenced to death between 1990 and 2011.

List of death sentences / executions

Surname Condemnation execution Remarks
Vladislav Kovalyov November 30, 2011 2012 Sentenced for the attack on the Minsk metro on April 11, 2011. Executed by shooting in the neck, according to information given to relatives on March 16, 2012.
Dmitri Konovalov November 30, 2011 2012 Also convicted for the attack on the Minsk metro on April 11, 2011. Executed by shooting in the neck, according to information given to relatives on March 16, 2012.
Eduard Lykov November 2013 Probably at the end of 2014
Alexander Grunow 2013
Grigory Juseptschuk 2013

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q When the state kills. Death penalty in Belarus . Amnesty International. November 20, 2015. Accessed December 9, 2015.
  2. ↑ http://www.todesstrafe.de/archiv/3104/Europarat-Forderungen_aergern_Weissrussland.html
  3. ↑ Belpan: Seminar on death penalty abolition held in Brest ( English ) BrestOnline. April 5, 2001. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  4. ^ Council of Europe: Belarus: Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on the most recent death sentences. 22th January 2014.
  5. ^ Council of Europe: Committee of Ministers. Declaration by the Committee of Ministers on the execution of Grigory Yusepchuk in Belarus. May 28, 2014.
  6. ^ Council of Europe: Executions in Belarus. Declaration by the Committee of Ministers on the execution of Alexander Grunov. November 13, 2014.
  7. ↑ a b Belarusian Constitution ( English ) Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  8. ^ The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area. Background paper. ( English ) OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. 2013. Accessed December 9, 2015.
  9. ↑ Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus of April 17, 2001 No. D-114/2001 ( English ) Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus. April 17, 2001. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  10. ^ Media war against Belarus (Belarus), December 3rd, 2011 (Peace Council). In: www.ag-friedensforschung.de. Retrieved December 21, 2016 .
  11. ↑ a b Death penalty in Belarus . Amnesty International, Belarus and Ukraine Coordination Group. January 2015. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  12. ^ Ending Executions in Europe. Towards Abolition of the Death Penalty in Belarus ( English ) Amnesty International. 2009. Accessed December 9, 2015.
  13. ↑ a b Gypsy Laborer Faces Execution In Belarus ( English ) CBS News. October 13, 2009. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  14. ↑ Belarus Executioner: Lukashenko Knew . Reuters. August 29, 2001. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  15. ↑ Berliner Kurier : In Minsk he led executions, in Berlin he fears Belarusian assassins , May 14, 2006, loaded on September 13, 2017
  16. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Death Verdicts in Belarus since 1990 (Box) ( English ) viasna. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  17. ↑ @Concerns In Europe November 1992 - April 1993 ( English ) Amnesty International. 1993. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  18. ^ Amnesty International Annual Report 1996: Belarus . Amnesty International. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  19. ↑ a b Urgent Action 119/98: Death Penalty / Fear of imminent execution ( English ) Amnesty International. April 17, 1998. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  20. ↑ Amnesty International Annual Report 1997: Belarus . Amnesty International. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  21. ↑ Amnesty International Annual Report 1999: Belarus . Amnesty International. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  22. ↑ Amnesty International Annual Report 2000: Belarus . Amnesty International. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  23. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Number of death sentences in Belarus ( English ) RHRPA Belarusian Helsinki Committee. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  24. ↑ International Helsinki Federation Annual Report on Human Rights Violations (2003): Belarus ( English ) International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF). June 24, 2003. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  25. ↑ International Helsinki Federation Annual Report on Human Rights Violations (2004): Belarus ( English ) International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF). June 23, 2004. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  26. ↑ International Helsinki Federation Annual Report on Human Rights Violations (2005): Belarus ( English ) International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF). June 27, 2005. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  27. ↑ Amnesty International Annual Report 2005: Belarus . Amnesty International. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  28. ^ A b International Helsinki Federation Annual Report on Human Rights Violations (2006): Belarus ( English ) International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF). June 8, 2006. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  29. ↑ Amnesty International Annual Report 200: Belarus . Amnesty International. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  30. ↑ Execution of Belarus death row prisoner confirmed. Amnesty International on July 26, 2011, accessed August 31, 2011.
  31. ^ Death penalty 2015: Facts and figures. In: Amnesty International. April 6, 2016, accessed on August 22, 2020 .
  32. ↑ a b Death sentences and executions 2016. In: Amnesty International. 2017, accessed on August 22, 2020 .
  33. ↑ a b Death sentences and executions 2017. In: Amnesty International. 2018, accessed on August 22, 2020 .
  34. ↑ RadioFreeEurope / RadioLiberty: Belarus Carries Out First Execution This Year; EU Urges moratorium. May 6, 2017, accessed on August 22, 2020 .
  35. ↑ Quand le Bélarus communique la mort d'un détenu plusieurs mois après. In: Amnesty International. March 22, 2018, accessed on August 22, 2020 (French).
  36. ↑ a b Death sentences and executions 2018. In: Amnesty International. 2019, accessed on August 22, 2020 .
  37. ↑ a b Death sentences and executions 2019. In: Amnesty International. 2020, accessed on August 22, 2020 (English).
  38. ↑ https://www.ecoi.net/local_link/323007/462498_de.html