You're reading: First death sentence this year handed down in Belarus

The first death sentence of the year has been handed down in Belarus, human rights center Viasna, which is unregistered in the republic, said on Jan. 15.

“A Minsk region court at an ad hoc hearing in Slutsk handed down sentences to three men charged with killing pensioners and attempting to kill an 85-year-old woman. One of them, local resident Vitaly Skrundik, received the death penalty, and his accomplices received 22 years and 18 years in a high-security penal colony,” Viasna said in a statement posted on its website.

The court handed down a similar punishment to the defendants in March 2020. However, the Supreme Court granted an appeal from Skrundik and ordered that the case be retried. Human rights activists said that this is rare in the practice of handing down death sentences in Belarus.

Belarus remains the only country in Europe and the Commonwealth of the Independent States where capital punishment is used. In accordance with the constitution, it is used as an exceptional measure of punishment for, especially grave crimes. Sentences are executed by firing squads.