Capital punishment

in Belarus

Done by Florea Darius

Europe holds the greatest concentration of abolitionist
states (blue). Map current as of 2019
  Abolished for all offences
  Retains death penalty
  Legal form of punishment but not used
in the last 10 years
(or has a moratorium in effect)
 Introduction
● Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Belarus. At least four executions were carried out in the
country in 2018.
● It has been a part of the country's legal system since gaining independence from the Soviet
Union on 26 December 1991. The current national constitution prescribes this punishment for
"grave crimes." Later laws have clarified the specific crimes for which capital punishment can
be used. The death penalty can be imposed for crimes that occur against the state or against
individuals. A few non-violent crimes can also be punishable by death. As of 2021, Belarus is
the only country in Europe that continues to carry out the death penalty.
● Following a referendum on the issue, the Belarusian government took steps to change the way
capital punishment is imposed and carried out. International organisations, such as the United
Nations, have criticised the methods Belarus uses when carrying out capital punishment. The
use of capital punishment is one factor keeping the country out of the Council of Europe.
 Legislation
● 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.”
 Legislation
As per the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, capital punishment can be imposed for the following acts:

● Launching or conducting aggressive war (Article 122, Part 2)

● Murder of a representative of a foreign state or international organisation in order to provoke international complications or war (Article 124, Part 2)
● International terrorism (Article 126)
● Genocide (Article 127)
● Crimes against humanity (Article 128)
● Application of weapons of mass destruction under international treaties of the Republic of Belarus (Article 134)
● Violation of the war laws and usage (Article 135, Part 3)
● Murder committed under aggravating circumstances (Article 139, Part 2)
● Terrorism (Article 289, Part 3)
● Treason connected with murder (Article 356, Part 2)
● Conspiracy to seize state power (Article 357, Part 3)
● Terrorist acts (Article 359)
● Sabotage (Article 360, Part 2)
● Murder of a police officer (Article 362)

Most of the death penalty convictions were for murder committed under aggravating circumstances.  Court proceedings involving capital cases must
involve a "collegial consideration," consisting of one judge and two People's assessors. The People's assessors are chosen from the general
population, similar to the jury system.
 Legislation improvement
● Over the years, the number of offenses eligible for the death penalty and the type of convicts eligible for it have been reduced.
In 1993, four economic crimes that would have resulted in death sentences during the Soviet era were removed from the list of
capital offenses by a vote of parliament and were replaced by prison terms without parole. Although the total number of
categories of crime qualifying for capital punishment declined during this time, Presidential Decree No. 21, issued on 21
October 1997, added "terrorism" to the list of capital offenses. When the Criminal Code was updated in 1999, the number of
capital offenses was further reduced. This reduction was assisted by the introduction of life imprisonment in December 1997.
● Since March 1, 1994, women are ineligible for capital punishment and persons under the age of 18 at the time of the crime or
over 65 at the time of sentencing have been exempt from capital punishment since January 2001.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". From June 30, 2003 to June 30, 2005, President Alexander Lukashenko granted two pardons to death row
inmates and denied one such request.
● 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".
● Belarus is the only European country to have carried out executions in the 21st century. European Council members
suggested in 2001 that Belarus abolish capital punishment before it can apply for membership in the Council. Belarus (as
the Byelorussian SSR) signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1973. This convention, however, does
not abolish the death penalty, but it imposes certain conditions on its implementation and use.
 Method

Before being executed, all prisoners on death row are transferred to Minsk Detention Center No. 1 (СИЗО,
or SIZO No. 1), in the country's capital Minsk. The method used to carry out the sentence is execution by
shooting. The executioner is a member of the "committee for the execution of sentences," which also chooses
the area where the execution will take place. According to the book The Death Squad by Oleg Alkayev (Олег
Алкаев), on the day of execution the convict is transported to a secret location where he is told by officials that
all appeals have been rejected. The convict is then blindfolded and taken to a nearby room, where two staffers
force him to kneel in front of a bullet backstop. The executioner then shoots the convict in the back of his head
with a PB-9 pistol equipped with a suppressor. According to Alkayev, "The whole procedure, starting with the
announcement about denied appeals and ending with the gunshot, lasts no longer than two minutes".
After the sentence is carried out, a prison doctor and other officials certify that the execution has been
performed and a death certificate is prepared. The remains of the condemned are buried secretly, and the
family is notified that the execution has taken place. Col. Oleg Alkayev, who was a director of SIZO No. 1,
claimed that about 130 executions took place at the prison between December 1996 and May 2001, when he
left Belarus to live in exile in Berlin, Germany.
 International reactions

The United Nations Human Rights Committee issued the following opinion of the

execution process in Belarus after the mother of subsequently executed prisoner
Anton Bondarenko petitioned the Committee to spare her son's life: "[the process
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].
 Number of executions
● 1985 – 21   2000 – 4
● 1986 – 10  2001 – 7
● 1987 – 12  2007 – at least one
 2008 – at least 4
● 1988 – 12
 2009 – 0
● 1989 – 5  2010 – 2
● 1990 – 20  2011 – 2
● 1991 – 14  2012 – 1
● 1992 – 24  2013 – 3
● 1993 – 20  2014 – 3
● 1994 – 24  2015 – 0
 2016 – 4
● 1995 – 46
 2017 – 2
● 1997 – 46  2018 – 4
● 1998 – 47  2019 – 2
● 1999 – 13
 Public Opinion
● In a 1996 referendum, one of the seven questions asked was about abolishing the death penalty. According to the
results of this referendum, 80.44% of Belarusians were against abolition. However, at the time of the referendum, the
longest available prison sentence was 15 years. Since then the sentence of lifelong imprisonment was introduced (in
December 1997). There have not been more recent surveys to determine whether the change in maximum prison
sentence affected public sentiment about the death penalty.

● More recently a parliamentary special working group announced plans to conduct a public opinion poll, but the
Information and Analytical Center with the Administration of the President took over this undertaking. The Center has
released its report, “Public Opinion about the Activity of the Organs of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus,” which
included the questions about death penalty and the attitudes of Belarusian citizens about abolition of capital
punishment. That poll showed only 4.5% of the respondents were against capital punishment in all cases, 79.5%
considered capital punishment appropriate punishment for at least some grave crimes and about 10% had difficulty
answering these questions or offered no opinion.

● There have been several steps taken toward reducing the imposition of the death penalty in Belarus. The Law of the
Republic of Belarus of 31 December 1997 added Article 22, which allows for “imprisonment for the term of one’s life
(life imprisonment) as an alternative to capital punishment.” Capital punishment has also since been restricted to men
between the age of 18 and 65.
 Court Cases
● In Rare Move, Belarusian Court Cancels
Death Sentence In High-Profile Case:
● MINSK -- Belarus's Supreme Court has upheld the appeal
of a death-row inmate and annulled his sentence in a
murder case, a very rare move in the tightly controlled
state led by autocratic President Alyaksandr Lukashenko.
● The court also annulled two other sentences in the case
on June 30, and sent it back for further investigation and a
retrial. Belarus is the only country in Europe that enforces
the death penalty.
● A court in the central city of Slutsk in early March
sentenced 29-year-old Viktar Skrundzik to death, 25-year-
old Vital Myatsezh to 22 years in prison, and 33-year-old
Valyantsin Bushnin to 18 years in prison, after finding
them guilty of murdering two elderly persons, along with
further crimes of attempted murder, arson, and robbery.
 BBC Article
Any day now, it's possible that two men will be
executed in the only European country
where the death penalty still exists - but
their family will never find out when they
were shot, or where they were buried.
 Circumstances of the crime
● On the night of April 9-10, 2019, Ilya and Stanislav, having drunk 3 liters of beer each,
went to Natalya Kostritsa (presumably due to her conflict with her sister). That day she
was alone (her husband was working in Russia), but she let them in. The brothers beat
Kostritsa and stabbed her about 100 times, after which, to cover their tracks, they stole
the computer and set the house on fire, and threw the knife into the Sozh River. Kosteva
left the house of the victim at 3:30, after spending four hours there. Kostritsa died only on
the morning of April 10th. After extinguishing the house, rescuers from the Ministry of
Emergency Situations found her body with multiple knife wounds. The Kostev brothers
were quickly installed and the stolen computer was found in the attic of their house. The
brothers confessed to the crime. The murdered Natalia Kostritsa has a son. During the
investigation, the Kosteva brothers said that they went to Kostritsa to protect their sister
 Investigation and trial
● The case was considered by the Mogilev Regional Court. On December 24, 2019, in an interview with the
Russian radio station Echo of Moscow, President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko spoke
about the case, calling the brothers scum and saying that they had killed their teacher, although the
verdict had not yet been announced:

● “We have socially significant affairs under the control of the president. Yesterday the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court reported to me about the proceedings in these cases. Here is one of them: two bastards,
otherwise you will not name them - there were already robbers, and they were punishing them - they killed
their teacher. For protecting two of their sister's children. Sister - an asocial element, and the teacher
defended them and demanded that they be removed from the family. They cut her all night, they killed her
all night. She begged, begged, and in the end they finished her off in the morning. How does it feel? "
● At the same time, Lukashenko reported false information (“there were already robberies and they were
punished”): none of the brothers was convicted of robbery.
 Bibliography
● https://
www.dw.com/ru/v-belarusi-vynesen-ocherednoj-smertnyj-prigovor/a-5623720
0
● https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-52647411
● https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%82%
D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%BD%D1%8C
_%D0%B2_%
D0%91%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%83%D1%81%D1%81%
D0%B8%D0%B8
● https://
www.rferl.org/a/belarusian-court-cancels-death-sentence-in-high-profile-case/
30700298.html
● https://emerging-europe.com/news/kazakhstan-abolishes-death-penalty/
Thank you !