MINSK, April 30 (RAPSI) – A Belarusian court has handed down the country’s first death penalty this year, the Mogilyov Prosecutor's Office said in a statement on Tuesday.
The sentence was handed down to one of two men convicted of murdering their cellmate in prison while serving sentences for previous crimes. The other was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
The prosecutors described the individual sentenced to death as an "extremely negative person" and highly dangerous. The cellmate who he recently murdered was the fourth person he had killed, prosecutors said..
"This individual is highly dangerous even when kept in isolation," the statement said. "It is impossible to rehabilitate him through a long or even life imprisonment. In this case, the death penalty is justified."
Belarus remains the only European country that still uses the death penalty, for which it frequently comes under harsh criticism from international organizations.
