Condemning recent execution in Belarus, OSCE/ODIHR Director repeats call for immediate moratorium on death penalty
WARSAW, 8 May 2017 - Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), following emerging information about a recent execution in Belarus, today once more called on the country’s government to introduce an immediate moratorium on executions, as a step towards complete abolition of the death penalty.
“I am alarmed to learn of the recent execution in Belarus,” Director Link said. “The use of the death penalty is completely out of place in a region where most countries recognize the inherently cruel, inhuman and degrading nature of a punishment that fails to act as a deterrent and makes any miscarriage of justice irreversible.”
The call comes after news of the likely execution last month of Syarhey Vostrykau, who was found guilty of rape and murder in two cases. This would be the first execution this year carried out in Belarus. It is reported that there are currently two more inmates on death row in the country.
Director Link said: “The complete secrecy surrounding executions in Belarus have the effect of intimidating or punishing families by intentionally leaving them in a state of uncertainty and mental distress. Once again, I urge the Belarusian authorities to consider abolishing the death penalty in all circumstances, as all but one other of the OSCE participating States have done, and to introduce an immediate moratorium as a first step towards abolition.”
ODIHR’s The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2016, highlights the international norm that where capital punishment occurs, it should not be carried out in secrecy. The lack of transparency on the part of the Belarusian authorities, including the lack of advance notice to family members and lawyers regarding the date and time of executions, the refusal to return the bodies of individuals who are executed and the refusal to disclose the location of the burial site has direct consequences for human rights, not only of the persons sentenced to death, but also for their family members.