MINSK (Sputnik) — Belarus is the only European country practicing capital punishment. According to human rights activists in the country, two people have been executed since the beginning of 2014, while two more, who were sentenced in 2013, are currently on death row.
"Belarus is the only country on the European continent that still applies the death penalty. I urge the authorities of Belarus to commute the remaining death sentences and establish a formal moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolition of the death penalty," Wiktorin said as quoted in a delegation’s statement.
She also noted that the introduction of the moratorium would bring Belarus closer to the pan-European legal standards and stressed that, according to Belarus' Constitution, the death penalty is "a temporary measure."
