Open source
The European Union condemns the death penalty in Belarus, due to the execution of the death penalty for two people. This was reported in a statement by the press secretary of the European Foreign Service Maja Kocijancic.
“The execution of Alexander Zhilnikov has taken place in Belarus in June 2019; according to reports there is a high probability that Viachaslau Sukharka was also executed. The European Union expresses its sincere sympathy to the families and friends of the victims of the crimes committed,” Kocijancic said.
At the same time, she stressed that the EU reaffirms its strong resistance to the death penalty in all circumstances and calls on Belarus to impose a moratorium on the death penalty as a first step towards the abolition of this measure of punishment.
“The execution of Alexander Zhilnikov has taken place in Belarus in June 2019; according to reports there is a high probability that Viachaslau Sukharka was also executed. The European Union expresses its sincere sympathy to the families and friends of the victims of the crimes committed,” Kocijancic said.
At the same time, she stressed that the EU reaffirms its strong resistance to the death penalty in all circumstances and calls on Belarus to impose a moratorium on the death penalty as a first step towards the abolition of this measure of punishment.
“The death penalty violates the inalienable right to life enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment,” said the spokesman for the European Foreign Service.
The EU stresses that the continued use of the death penalty is contrary to Belarus’s international obligations.
On June 13, the human rights center Vesna reported that the death sentence was carried out against Alexander Zhilnikov, who killed three people. The fate of the second person involved in the case - Vyacheslav Sukharko - is unknown. But, as practice shows, sentences are simultaneously carried out in relation to all those convicted of the highest punishment in one case.
According to the EU, Belarus is the only country in Europe that still applies the death penalty.
