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European Parliament urges Lukashenka to pardon subway bombing suspects

The European Parliament has urged Alyaksandr Lukashenka to pardon Dzmitry Kanavalaw and Uladzislaw Kavalyow, sentenced to death in the subway bombing case of November 30, 2011, and impose a moratorium on the death penalty.

According to reports by human rights organizations, there are arguments showing that their trial was unfair, and that the investigation was marred by serious human rights abuses, the EP said in a resolution adopted on February 16.

Underlining that this "irreversible, cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment, which violates the right to life", is unacceptable, the MEPs deplored “the continuing failure of the Belarusian authorities to take any tangible steps towards abolishing the death penalty or imposing an immediate moratorium on it.”

They reiterated that the European Union and other international institutions had repeatedly urged the Belarusian authorities to abolish the death penalty.

The EP also condemned "the continuous persecution of human rights defenders and members of the democratic opposition and the harassment of civil society activists and the independent media in Belarus for political reasons" and demanded the unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners.

Belarus remains the only country in Europe that uses the death penalty. //BelaPAN