Why does Lukashenka like capital punishment so much?

• 23.06.2009, 15:15

The Prosecutor General said an issue on “abolition of the death penalty is under the jurisdiction of the head of state”.

On June 23, Ryhor Vasilevich told at a press conference dedicated to the Day of Prosecution Officer that abolition of the death penalty was a “political and legal matter”, BelaPAN writes.

Vasilevich reminded that article 24 of the Constitution provides for exceptional measure of punishment – death penalty. According to him, the Belarusian courts deliver the minimal number of capital sentences. If in 1997–1998 about 40 penal sentences were delivered, there were only two death sentences in 2008. The people were condemned for heavy and especially grave crimes, including murder a minor, the Prosecutor General noted.

According to Vasilevich, a decision on abolition or setting a moratorium on death penalty depends on Belarus’s joining the Council of Europe in great degree. “One of the conditions of Belarus’s joining the Council of Europe is a moratorium on capital punishment,” the Prosecutor General added.

The Prosecutor General said that the issue on “abolition of the death penalty is under the jurisdiction of the head of state”.

It should be noticed that Vasilevich had the press conference at the same time when the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe was discussing Belarus at a session in Strasbourg. The Assembly adopted a decision to restore the special guest status of the Belarusian parliament in the PACE after a moratorium on death penalty is decreed in the country.

The final, legal, decision will be taken at a session of the Bureau of the Council of Europe in Paris on September 7.