Capital Punishment In Belarus

Belarus is the only country in Europe that continues to carry out the death penalty. As of early 2025, capital punishment remains a legal penalty, with at least one execution confirmed in 2022 and a death sentence issued in 2024. The death penalty has been part of Belarus's legal system since its independence from the Soviet Union on August 25, 1991.

The current national constitution permits the death penalty for "especially grave crimes." The list of capital offenses was expanded in 2023 to include high treason.

A 1996 referendum on the issue saw 80.44% of voters support retaining the punishment; the Belarusian government consequently contends that the death penalty can only be abolished via another nationwide vote. Its continued use has drawn widespread condemnation from international organizations, including the United Nations, which criticize both the practice itself and the methods employed. The application of capital punishment is one of the main reasons for Belarus's exclusion from the Council of Europe.

History

The Belarusian Democratic Republic, as the first Belarusian state, was too short-lived to establish a codified legal system, and thus, it held no specific legal position on the death penalty.

Belarusian SSR

Until 1928, Belarus operated under the Russian legal code. When Belarus enacted its own criminal code in 1928, it introduced the death penalty for 38 crimes. Significantly, this code described capital punishment as a temporary measure. Of these 38 offenses, only two were crimes against individuals: armed robbery and murder committed by a serviceman. Exceptions to the death penalty were made for pregnant women and individuals under 18 years old. A 1935 decree, effective until 1959, lowered the age limit for execution to 12.

During the Great Purge, between 1935 and 1940, over 35,000 executions took place in Belarus, including 370 members of the literary intelligentsia. Additionally, an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people were executed by the NKVD in prisons located in territories annexed after 1939.

In 1947, capital punishment was initially abolished, only to be reintroduced in 1950 for spies and traitors, and then in 1954 for aggravated murder. The 1960 Belarusian criminal code was adopted. In 1962, the death penalty was extended to bribery, and in 1965, the Presidium allowed its retroactive application to war criminals. Subsequent amendments to the code continued to broaden the list of capital offenses, including, for example, currency speculation.

A 1987 case involved an individual sentenced to death who was subsequently acquitted after spending nearly 15 years in prison. Furthermore, another innocent man was executed prior to the apprehension of the actual perpetrator.

Republic of Belarus

Upon gaining independence, Belarus began to limit the use of the death penalty. In 1993, the list of capital crimes was reduced eliminating economic crimes from being punishable by death. Exemptions from the death penalty were introduced for women by 1994, followed by individuals over the age of 65 in 2001. In 1997, life imprisonment was introduced as an alternative form of punishment. However, a Presidential decree in the same year expanded the list of capital offenses to include terrorism.

A new criminal code adopted in 1999 significantly reduced the number of capital crimes from 29 to 14.

in October 2005, the Parliament adopted an amendment to the Criminal Code declaring that the continued use of the death penalty was on a temporary basis only.

Lukashenko put forth the idea of another death penalty referendum in 2021, however, it was not subsequently carried out.

On December 7, 2022, Belarusian lawmakers approved a bill that punishes high treason among officials and military personnel with the death penalty. President Alexander Lukashenko signed this bill into law on March 9, 2023.

Legislation

Article 24 of the Constitution of Belarus states that:

As per the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, capital punishment can be imposed for the following acts:

* War of aggression
* Terrorism targeting diplomatic or international personnel
* International terrorism by an organized group
* Genocide
* Crimes against humanity
* Use of weapons of mass destruction prohibited by an international treaty of the Republic of Belarus
* War crimes leading to murder
* Aggravated murder
* Terrorist acts involving murder or weapons of mass destruction
* High treason by an official or serviceman
* Seditious conspiracy resulting in death
* Terrorist murder of a civil servant or public figure
* Sabotage by an organized group, or causing death or other severe consequences
* Murder of a police officer or serviceman

The death penalty may be imposed for preparation or attempted terrorism, but not for other crimes.

Capital punishment cannot be imposed on individuals under 18 years of age, those over 65, or on women. When a mental disorder is diagnosed that deprives the condemned person of the ability to understand their actions, the death penalty isn't executed.

The death penalty isn't applied if a pre-trial cooperation agreement is reached. The Prosecutor General must review petitions for these agreements.

Should the statute of limitations for the crime of a person sentenced to death expire, the court shall review the case. If the court does not find grounds to acquit the individual, the death penalty shall be commuted to imprisonment.

Death penalty criminal cases are presided over at first instance by a panel of one judge and two people's assessors, chosen from the general population.
The death penalty can only be imposed on a defendant found guilty by a unanimous decision of all judges.

Executions are carried out non-publicly by shooting. Each condemned person is executed separately.

A prosecutor, a representative of the correctional facility, and a medical professional must be present at the execution. The medical professional confirms the death of the condemned.

After an execution, the facility administration notifies the sentencing court, which informs one of the deceased's close relatives. The body is not released for burial, and the burial place is not disclosed, a practice the UNHRC believes violates Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and which the OSCE considers a violation of the Copenhagen Declaration, to both of which Belarus is a signatory.

The death penalty may be commuted to life imprisonment through a presidential pardon.

In 2004, the Constitutional Court of Belarus ruled that the President or the National Assembly held the authority to suspend or abolish the death penalty without requiring a new referendum. This interpretation was reaffirmed in 2010 by the Court's Head and is also shared by the Council of Europe.

Procedure

In Belarus, prisoners sentenced to death are transferred to Minsk Detention Center No. 1 in the capital.

The execution is carried out by a member of the "committee for the execution of sentences," which also determines the execution site. According to Oleg Alkayev's book ''The Death Squad'', on the day of execution the convict is transported to a secret location and informed that all appeals have been rejected. He is then blindfolded and taken to a nearby room. There 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. Alkayev states that "The whole procedure, starting with the announcement about denied appeals and ending with the gunshot, lasts no longer than two minutes."

Following the execution, a prison doctor and other officials certify the death, and a death certificate is prepared. The remains of the executed are buried secretly, and the family is subsequently notified.

Statistics

Official data on the statistics of death penalty application in Belarus remains a state secret, making it challenging to access. Information is primarily compiled and made public by human rights groups, such as Amnesty International and Viasna. These organizations gather their data through various means, including occasional government disclosures, case-by-case analysis of public media reports, and information received directly from the relatives of executed individuals. Reliable figures for executions actually carried out are particularly difficult to obtain.

For the Belarusian SSR, data on death sentences is available starting from 1985.

For independent Belarus, multiple conflicting estimates exist regarding the number of death sentences. All sources generally agree, however, that the application of the death penalty has been greatly reduced since the early 2000s.

While the last confirmed execution took place in 2022, the Supreme Court rejected a death row inmate's appeal in January 2024. As of Spring 2025, no further information regarding his fate has been released.

Death sentences can be commuted either by a decision from a higher court or through a Presidential pardon; both methods are rarely utilized. In 2012, President Lukashenko stated he had pardoned only one man during his entire presidency up to that point. Since then, there are three other known cases of pardons, including that of Rico Krieger as part of the 2024 Ankara prisoner exchange. Conversely, there have been instances where prosecutors successfully petitioned for a reconsideration of a case, resulting in the imposition of a death sentence.

Typically, there is roughly a one-year gap between the issuance of a death sentence and its execution. The overwhelming majority of individuals executed are convicted of murder. However, those responsible for the 2011 Minsk Metro bombing and Rico Krieger in 2024 were sentenced for terrorism.

Public opinion

In a 1996 referendum one of the seven questions addressed the abolition of the death penalty. The results showed that 80.44% of Belarusians opposed its abolition.

In 2000, 65% of Belarusians supported capital punishment. By 2010, support for retaining it fell to 48.2%, with 39.2% favoring abolition. In 2013, 46% of Belarusians supported the death penalty, while 44% advocated for its gradual abolition. A 2017 poll conducted by a think tank associated with Lukashenko reported 60% support for the death penalty. Of those polled, 31% supported abolition, which included 18% who favored complete abolition. Support continued into 2020, with 63% of Belarusians endorsing the death penalty. In 2021, the Head of the Sociology Institute of NASB claimed on state TV that only 7% of the population supported its abolition.

International reactions

The Council of Europe has maintained a consistent stance, urging Belarus to implement a moratorium on the death penalty as a prerequisite for its membership. This position dates back to at least 2001, when European Council members suggested that Belarus abolish capital punishment before seeking Council membership. Belarus's continued non-compliance led to the suspension of high-level contacts between Belarus and the PACE in 2010. The EU has similarly and repeatedly endorsed a moratorium.

The United Nations has also expressed strong disapproval. In 2022, the UNHRC condemned Belarus for executing a person whose case was under Committee consideration, a breach of the Optional Protocol, which Belarus had accepted in 1992. Since 2007, Belarus has consistently abstained from biennial UN General Assembly votes on a death penalty moratorium.

In 2023, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized Belarus's expanded death penalty scope, fearing its use to intimidate political opposition.

The UK Foreign Office criticized Belarus's use of the death penalty after the 2011 Minsk bombings' perpetrators were executed. In 2018, the German Foreign Office also called for an immediate moratorium.

In 2012, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that the decision on capital punishment was a sovereign matter for each state. However, he acknowledged that Belarus's eventual accession to the Council of Europe, which would require abolishing the death penalty, was in Russia's interest.

For its part, Belarus has largely defended its position by citing domestic factors. In 2019, then-Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei stated that public sentiment in Belarus favored capital punishment, but the government was working toward changing that. In 2022, after the Council of Europe suspended cooperation, Belarus's MFA claimed this jeopardized constructive dialogue on the death penalty. President Lukashenko, in 2013, called the death penalty "not good" but "necessary in some cases." In 2018, he contrasted European concerns with the lack of such conditions from Russia and China.

Notes

References

External links

Interview with Oleg Alkaev, former head of Belarus's death row

The website of «The Human Rights Defenders against the Death Penalty in Belarus» campaign

History of the death penalty in Belarus


Petition against the Death Penalty in Belarus

{{Capital punishment in Europe

Belarus
Murder in Belarus
Law of Belarus
Human rights abuses in Belarus