Council of Europe condemns another death penalty in Belarus
The Council of Europe has strongly criticized the execution of a criminal for a murder in Belarus.
"The extreme penalty is a horrible and inhumane punishment that is no longer admissible in Europe," said Yves Cruchten, the General Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, on Thursday, March 8th.
The execution of Kirill Kazachok, 40, is shocking mainly because it took place in October 2017 and the mother of the criminal has only been informed about it recently.
As part of the hearing held behind closed doors in December 2016, Kazachok was found guilty of murdering his daughter, 9, and son, 17.
According to the court's ruling he was intoxicated at the time of the murders and that Kazachok did not appeal the death penalty sentence.
The Belarusian Vesna [Spring] human rights center and Amnesty International have addressed the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, requesting him to abolish the sentence.
Belarus remains the only state in Europe that has the death penalty.
Belarusian authorities usually inform relatives of those sentenced about their execution much later, as a result, the families of the executed criminals are not informed about their burials.
Over 400 people have been executed since Belarus became an independent state in 1991.