Belarus: Statement by the Spokesperson on a new death sentence

On 6 March 2020, Viktar Skrundzik was sentenced to death by the Minsk Regional Court in Belarus.

The European Union reaffirms its strong opposition against the application of capital punishment in any circumstance. The death penalty violates the inalienable right to life enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Miscarriages of justice, inevitable in any judicial system, are irreversible.

There is a worldwide trend to abandon capital punishment: in 160 countries, there were no executions over the last 10 years or more. Were Belarus to commute the remaining death sentences and introduce a moratorium on the death penalty, this would be a very positive first step towards its abolition