Very little is known about inmates on death row im Belarus: these were photographed in Minsk in 2006 in a cell thought to be no longer in use. Source: Human Rights Centre Viasna. While President Lukashenko claims the death penalty is the will of the Belarusian people, they surely didn’t vote for it to be carried out arbitrarily and in secret. The ongoing execution of the death penalty likely has a more political cause. It was recently revealed that Kiryl Kazachok was executed with six months passing before anyone was informed of his death. Like all executions in Belarus, this one was carried out in secrecy.
Kazachok was found guilty of killing his two children in January 2016. He called the police following the incident, before attempting to kill himself. He was sentenced to death in December 2016 and executed in October 2017. His family only learned about his death early March 2018, as his mother told the Human Rights Centre Viasna.
Belarus is the last country of Europe and Central Asia to continue to apply the death penalty. Human Rights Centre Viasna estimates that since Belarus gained its independence in 1991, more than 400 people have been executed.
