Public activities in support of death penalty abolition in Belarus held in Chisinau, Kiev and Moscow

Activists of Amnesty International Moldova Tuesday held a public meeting in front of the Embassy of Belarus in Chisinau before the World Day against Death Penalty marked on October 10. Belarus is the last country in Europe and from the former Soviet Union that still carries out executions, Info-Prim Neo reports. Victor Suruceanu, acting executive director of Amnesty International Moldova, said the death penalty in Belarus is a secret issue. The detainees are shot dead in the backhead. The bodies are not given to the relatives. The relatives are often informed only after the detainees are executed and the burial place is kept secret. “There are no official data about the number of persons sentenced to death in this country. However, according to Amnesty International estimates, at least 400 persons have been executed in Belarus since the country obtained independence in 1991. Mass media reports say four persons were executed in 2008. Two persons were sentenced to death in 2009, while another two are waiting for the execution sentence,” Victor Suruceanu said. “Capital punishment is a degrading measure incompatible with a developing democracy. According to the UN Resolution of December 18, 2008, the death penalty was abolished in all the countries and it must become history” said Viorel Barbanoua, campaign coordinator for Amnesty International. The activists handed over a petition, demanding that the capital punishment be replaced with imprisonment terms, to officials of the Embassy of Belarus. Similar events have been held in Russia and Ukraine at 12.00.