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On Death Penalty in Belarus
For last several years judicial statistics have been clearly demonstrating a
steady tendency towards decrease in application of death penalty in Belarus:
from 47 death sentences in 1998 to 4 ones in 2002.
The Republic of Belarus has been systematically working on the humanization
of its penal legislation and law enforcement practices.
In
comparison to the Penal Code of 1960 in the Penal Code of 1999 a number of
articles providing for death penalty was decreased considerably– from 29 to
14.
In
accordance with the Penal Code of 1999 a list of persons to whom the death
sentence could not be invoked was expanded. For example, now the death
penalty could not be applied either to children under 18 and women
(provisions of the Penal Code of 1960) or to men over 65 (a new provision of
the Penal Code of 1999).
In
May 2002 the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus conducted the
parliamentary hearings on political and legal problems of abolition of death
penalty in Belarus. The hearings have resulted in adoption of a number of
recommendations to the Government of Belarus on application of death penalty
and its alternatives in the country.
In
March 2004 at the request of the House of Representatives of the National
Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, the Constitutional Court considered the
question on whether provisions of the penal law of Belarus providing for
death penalty are in compliance with the Constitution and obligations of the
Republic of Belarus under international treaties. The ruling by the
Constitutional Court has created a legal basis for further discussion of
this matter, including in the context of an eventual moratorium on death
penalty as a first step towards the abolition of this punishment.
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