Another Death Sentence Executed Before European Games In Minsk

Aliaksandr Zhylnikau is executed.

The death sentence is executed against Aliaksandr Zhylnikau. Relatives of the convict informed the coordinator of the campaign "Human Rights Defenders Against the Death Penalty in Belarus" Andrei Polub, HRC Viasna reports.

So far, the fate of the second defendant in the case, Viachyslau Sukharka, is unknown. As the practice shows the death sentence is executed simultaneously in relation to all the convicts in one case.

On 30 May the lawyer met with Aliaksandr Zhylnikau and they filed a complaint to the Prosecutor General's Office to review the case in the light of new evidence. Today, on 13 June, the lawyer went to pre-trial detention center No. 1 to continue her work on the complaint, however, she was told that Aliaksandr had left for "the verdict". The lawyer clarified whether that meant that he had been executed. She got confirmation. Minsk City Court will send an official report on the execution of the sentence to the relatives.

In addition, the UN Committee on Human Rights is considering an individual appeal of Aliaksandr Zhylnikau, which was registered on December 24, 2018, No. 3082/2018.

The Committee requested the Belarusian authorities to take interim measures and not to execute sentence pending consideration of the appeal of the convicted person by the Committee.

- I am very outraged by this approach. On the one hand, Belarus wants to be closer to Europe, is called a European country, holds the II European Games, while on the other hand, it does not support the values of human rights and remains the last country in Europe and the post-Soviet space with the death penalty," Andrei Polud says.

It should be recalled that in December 2015, a tragedy occurred in Minsk - a young boy and his girlfriend were killed in their apartment. Alina Shulganava, a former girlfriend of the young man, a kindergarten teacher, could not stand the break-up and decided to give his new girlfriend a lesson. The performers (Viachyslau Sukharka and Aliaksandr Zhylnikau) went too far and killed young people. After the arrest, it became known that the men were also involved in the murder of a resident of Kalodzishchy -the owner of the house where they rented a room.

On 29 May, the Supreme Court considered the appeal of Aliaksandr Zhylnikau. At first, the man was sentenced to life imprisonment, but after the re-examination of the case by Minsk City Court, the sentence was commuted to the death penalty. However, the last instance at the national level left the sentence unchanged, while the complaint of the convicted was not satisfied. After that, human rights defenders and Aliaksandr Zhylnikau sent an individual appeal to the UN Human Rights Committee.

Amnesty International called on people from all over the world to write to the Belarusian authorities to stop the execution of Aliaksandr Zhylnikau and Viachyslau Sukharka, to declare a moratorium on executions and to commute all death sentences to imprisonment.