In mid-March 2010 Belarusian and Russian mass media published the information that two death sentences was given in Belarus. One of those killed legally, 25-year-old Andrei Zhuk, shoot dead 39-year-old accountant Svetlana Laptsuevu and 38-year-old driver Gennady Zubets in a car. The second executed - 30-year-old Vasily Yuzepchuk - killed six elderly women. Amnesty International has called on the President of Belarus Alyaksandr Lukashenka to establish an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty.
Andrei Rusakovich, the head of the Foreign Policy and Security Research Center:
Abolishing the death penalty is a problem of great public and international significance. The imperfection of legal system, which is not protected from mistakes, as shown by domestic and foreign experience, is an argument against the death penalty. The implementation of the moratorium on the death penalty is currently one of the conditions of the Council of Europe for rapprochement with Belarus.
The number of death sentences is declining in Belarus. For example, in 2009 there was not carried out any death sentences in Belarus. Among other reasons, it was the response to Europe's appeals to abolish the death penalty. According to Belarus legislation, abolishing the death penalty is only possible through referendum. As is known, over 80% voted against the abolition of the death penalty in the national referendum in 1996.
The question of abolishing the death penalty is also associated with the need for more prevention work in the country to remove the prerequisites for committing grave crimes and especially grave crimes.
