EU condemns Belarus after prisoner execution
The European Union has condemned Belarus after receiving news that the former Soviet republic executed another prisoner, Radio Free Europe reported.
Belarus is the only country in Europe that still practices capital punishment.
In a statement issued on May 7th, the EU stated that the execution of Syarhey Iwanow was "particularly disturbing" because his complaint was pending with the UN Human Rights Committee.
“Despite the many calls made by the European Union, another execution has been carried out in Belarus. The case of Syarhey Iwanow, who had been sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of Belarus in March 2015, is particularly disturbing in light of the fact that his complaint was pending with the UN Human Rights Committee,” the statement read.
The EU also expressed concern over the fact that the Supreme Court of Belarus upheld the death sentence Sergey Khmelevsky on May 6th.
“The European Union opposes capital punishment, which fails to act as a deterrent to crime and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity. Over the last decades, numerous countries have realized that the death penalty cannot be justified under any circumstances and have stopped applying it. We expect Belarus, the only country in Europe still applying capital punishment, to join a global moratorium on the death penalty as a first step towards its abolition,” the statement concluded.