Capital punishment in Belarus

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Capital punishment in Belarus is still being applied today and Belarus is the only country in Europe in which capital punishment is still put into practice. In the CIS, Belarus is joined only by Uzbekistan in this respect.

Contents 1 Crimes 2 Method 3 Criticism 4 Prisoners' stories 5 References

[edit] Crimes

Article 24 of the Constitution of Belarus states that:

"Until its abolition, the death sentence may be applied in accordance with the law as an exceptional penalty for especially grave crimes and only in accordance with the verdict of a court of law."

In the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, the penalty of death can be issued as a legal punishment for the following acts, listed in order by article number:

• Acts of aggression (Article 122 part 2 of the Criminal Code of Belarus)
• Murder of a representative of a foreign state or international organization with the intention to provoke
• Genocide (Art. 127)
• Crimes against humanity (Art. 128)
• Application of weapons of mass destruction (Art 134)
• Violations of the laws and customs of war (Art. 135 part 3)
• Murder committed under aggravating circumstances (Art. 139 part 2)
• Terrorism (Art. 289 part 3)
• Treason that results in loss of life (Art. 356 part 2)
• Conspiracy to seize power (Art. 357 part 3)
• Terrorist acts (Art. 359)
• Sabotage (Art. 360 part 2)
• Murder of a police officer (Art. 362)

Four economic crimes that could result in the death penalty during the Soviet era were removed from the list on 6 July 1993. Presidential Decree No. 21, issued on 21 October 1997, added the crime of terrorism to the list of capital crimes that are eligible for the death penalty. More crimes that had the sentence of death were removed in 1999 due to the passing of the new Criminal Code. Before the passage, 29 crimes were eligible to have the death penalty as a punishment. In most of the cases where the death penalty has been issued, it was for the crime of murder committed under aggravating circumstances.

Women (since 1 March 1994) and those under 18 at the time of the crime or over 65 (since January 2001) at the time of sentencing are ineligible for capital punishment. Those who are mentally ill may have their death sentence commuted. Under Article 84 of the Constitution, the president "may grant pardons to convicted citizens". During his time in charge of SIZO No. 1, Colonel Oleg Alkayev said there was only one instance of clemency from President Alexander Lukashenko.

[edit] Method

The capital punishment used in Belarus is execution by firing squad. Prisoners on death row are kept at SIZO No.1 (СИЗО), which is located in the capital city, Minsk. They live in 12 m² cells that are constantly lit. The execution usually takes place there as well.

Col. Alkayev, who was a director of SIZO No. 1, said that 134 executions took place at the prison from December 1996 until May 2001. However, no official statistics are released by the government, in contravention of the rules established by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The OSCE has stated that members must "make available to the public information regarding the use of the death penalty" inside member countries.

[edit] Criticism

A 1996 referendum found that 80.44% of Belorussians were against abolishing the death penalty. However, this referendum has been called undemocratic and misleading, because the ballot included other questions related to increasing presidential power. Moreover, at the time of the referendum the longest available prison sentence was 15 years. In the meantime, life-long imprisonment was introduced in december 1997.

In 2000 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe condemned

"in the strongest possible terms the executions in Belarus and deplores the fact that Belarus is currently the only country in Europe where the death penalty is enforced and, moreover, is regularly and widely enforced".

However, Belarus is not a member state of the Council of Europe.

The entire legal system of Belarus was called into question when the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers reported in 2001 that

"the administration of justice, together with all its institutions, namely, the judiciary, the prosecutorial service and the legal profession, are undermined and not perceived as separate and independent. The rule of law is therefore thwarted." (The President has the power to appoint and remove judges.)

On 11 March 2004 the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus came to the conclusion that two article of the Criminal Code were incompatible with the Constitution of Belarus and said that it was up to the president and the Parliament to abolish or impose a moratorium on the death penalty. In order to arrive to this conclusion it stated that art. 24 of the constitution mandated having the death penalty as a temporary measure, that there was no proof that the death penalty prevented serious crime and that the world community is evolving towards abolition and that in the judicial practice of Belarus itself, preference is gradually given to life-long imprisonment instead of the death penalty. Subsequently, in October 2005 the Parliament adopted an amendment to the Criminal Code making the death penalty a temporary measure. However, in itself, this amendment does not change the current situation.

The relatives of those executed are not informed in advance of the date of execution, the body is not returned and is buried in an undisclosed location. There are also reports of the relatives of the accused not being allowed in the courtroom. According to the UN Human Rights Committee who issued an opinion after a complaint by the mother of the executed Anton Bondarenko, this

"[has] the effect of intimidating or punishing families by intentionally leaving them in a state of uncertainty and mental distress…[and that the] authorities’ initial failure to notify the author of the scheduled date for the execution of her son, and their subsequent persistent failure to notify her of the location of her son’s grave amounts to inhuman treatment of the author, in violation of article 7 of the Covenant [prohibiting torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment]."

[edit] Prisoners' stories

Dmitry Yefremenkov was sentenced to death in Belarus on 12 March 1999. Yefremenkov's lawyer said that he was not given full access to his client; police were always present when he visited Yefremenkov.

Dmitry Kharkhal said that while on death row he was regularly beaten on the head, back, stomach and genitals by guards. He was also not allowed any reading material.

[edit] References

• Article 24 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus. Accessed on 5 September 2005.
• Judgment of the Constitutional Court of March 11, 2004 On the conformity between the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, the international treaties of the Republic of Belarus and the provisions of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus stipulating application of the death penalty as a punishment, accessed on May 28, 2006.
• "Belarus." Hands Off Cain. Accessed on 5 September 2005.
• "On Capital Punishment in Belarus." Embassy of Belarus in the United Kingdom. Accessed on 5 September 2005.
• "Death penalty in Belarus." Accessed on 5 September 2005.
• "Belarus and Uzbekistan: the last executioners." Amnesty International. Accessed on 5 September 2005.
• Belarus amends criminal code Interfax on October 26, 2005, accessed on May 28, 2006.