The first deputy chairman of the Supreme Court of Belarus, Valery Kalinkovich, stated that Courts in Belarus sentenced five people to death in 2017, reports Deutsche Welle.  

According to Kalinkovich, three people were sentenced to life imprisonment.

“We have two forms of exceptionally severe punishment: life imprisonment and the death penalty,” Interfax quoted Kalinkovich as saying.

Earlier, Belarusian human rights activists knew about of four death sentences in 2017: Mazyr resident Kirill Kazachek (for murdering his own children), Naroulia resident Aleksandr Mikhalen (for the murder of his neighbors), and two members of the “black realtors” gang from Minsk, Alexander Zhilnikov and Vyacheslav Suharko.

Later, they reported that one more death sentence had been handed down, but no name was given. Kalinkovich explained that this was for Viktor Letov for the murder of a cellmate. It is not known if these sentences were carried out.

This year the Belarusian court has handed down two death sentences. These were for Minsk residents Alexander Zhilnikov and Vyacheslav Suharko for committing three murders.

Belarus remains the only country in Europe and the CIS that still has the death penalty. In accordance with the Constitution, it is used as an exceptional measure of punishment for especially serious crimes. Execution is carried out by firing squad. Relatives of those to be executed are not, as a rule, informed of the execution and are not allowed to visit the condemned beforehand. The body is not turned over to the family, nor is the family told where the person is buried.

The death penalty in Belarus is condemned by the EU, OSCE/ODIHR, and a number of international organizations.

Four death sentences were carried out in the country in 2016.

  Belarus

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