OSCE PA human rights Chair and Vice-Chair call for commutation of death sentence in Belarus, urge moratorium

COPENHAGEN, 28 October 2019 – Kyriakos Hadjiyianni (MP, Cyprus) and Michael Georg Link (MP, Germany), Chair and Vice-Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s human rights committee, called today for authorities in Minsk to halt the execution of Viktar Syarhel, who was reportedly sentenced to death in Belarus for killing an eight-month old girl.

“Despite the gruesome nature of this crime, it must be emphasized that the death penalty is ineffective and inhumane, and this is why it has been abolished in every European country except Belarus,” they said in a statement. “We urge the Belarusian authorities to commute this sentence, to introduce without delay a moratorium on the death penalty, and ultimately to join the 55 other OSCE participating States that have abolished this inhumane punishment.”

In numerous OSCE PA Declarations, the Parliamentary Assembly has called for the abolition of the death penalty in the two OSCE participating States that still retain capital punishment, Belarus and the United States.