By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MINSK, Belarus – Belarus executed two prisoners earlier this week who had been sentenced to death this past year, continuing that nation’s distinction as the only remaining country in Europe to practice capital punishment.

Last year, Vasily Yuzepchuk, 30, had been convicted of murder and sentenced to death for the killings of six women.  Andrei Zhuk, 25, was convicted of armed robbery and murder.

Their executions marked the first uses of the death penalty by any European state in over a year.  The response by human rights activists and the European community was immediate.  By carrying out these executions, Belarus ignored a recent European Court of Human Rights ruling that ordered all signatory countries to cease the use of capital punishment.

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International condemned the executions, calling on Belarus to re-establish the stay on executions that it had previously had in place.  Halya Gowan, a regional leader of Amnesty International, stated that “the death penalty is the ultimate cruel and inhuman punishment.  It violates the right to life and should be abolished.”

The leaders of other European nations voiced similar concerns regarding Belarus’s decision to go forward with the executions.  A statement from a number of national parliaments declared that “the Belarussian authorities should be aware that their cannot be political dialogue without shared values.”

These executions may damage Belarus’s continued efforts to become better assimilated in the economic and political circles of 21st century Europe.  Despite its questionable human rights record, the former Soviet Republic, which continues to rely heavily on Russia for political and economic support, has attempted in recent years to improve relations with the rest of Europe and distance itself from the control of Moscow.  The Council of Europe had recently proposed to allow Belarus a ‘special state status’, which it lost in 1997, if in exchange it established a stay on its use of the death penalty.

For more information, please see:

EPOCH TIMES – Two Men Executed in Belarus, EU Death-Free Zone Ends – 26 March 2010

NAVINY.BY – Two convicts executed in Belarus – 26 March 2010

REUTERS – Belarus Execution Draws European Protests – 25 March 2010

AFP – Amnesty condemns Belarus executions – 23 March 2010

DEUTSCHE WORLD – Amnesty condemns execution of two prisoners in Belarus – 23 March 2010

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL – Belarus carries out two executions – 22 March 2010