Death penalty in Belarus

9.1.2018

Question for written answer E-000050-18
to the Commission
Rule 130
Agnieszka Kozłowska-Rajewicz (PPE)

Belarus remains the only country in Europe which enforces capital punishment and still carries out executions. Its Supreme Court has recently rejected an appeal against two death sentences: Ihar Hershankow and Syamyon Berazhny. The sentences were pronounced in July 2017 by the Mahilyow Regional Court after the two men were convicted of six murders.

What is more, recent cases have brought to light cases of prosecutors holding unfair trials, investigations marred by serious human rights abuses, and the death penalty being carried out in private by shooting. Worse still, the families of those executed are not told the date and place of burial, nor is the body of their loved one returned to them for burial. Not only is the death penalty cruel and ineffective in preventing crime, errors in the legal system are irreversible.

1. Is the Commission taking action to persuade the Belarusian authorities to take tangible steps towards abolishing the death penalty or introducing a moratorium on it?

2. What tools does the Commission have at its disposal to secure the abolition of the death penalty in Belarus?

3. What Belarusian organisations does the Commission cooperate with in this area?