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Supreme Court upholds death sentence for Ivan Kulesh

The Supreme Court of Belarus on March 29 rejected an appeal by Ivan Kulesh against his sentence.

The 28-year-old Kulesh, convicted of the murder of three persons, asked the Supreme Court to uphold the sentence. He said that he deserved death and kept remarkably calm after hearing the court’s decision.

Supreme Court Deputy Chairman Ruslan Aniskevich, who presided over the hearing, told the convict that he had the right to apply to the head of state for clemency.

On November 20, 2015, the Hrodna Regional Court inflicted the death penalty on Mr. Kulesh for the murder of three saleswomen.

The man was found guilty of killing two of the women in Lida in September 2013 and the third victim in the Lida district in November 2014, and stealing more than 45 million rubels (about $4,500 at the time) in cash and some goods.

Mr. Kulesh was found to have beaten the two women to death with an iron pipe and killed the other woman by hitting her more than 10 times with an axe.

In addition, Mr. Kulesh was found to have attempted to kill his last victim’s son who saw him at the store right after the murder. He attacked him with a knife, but the young man managed to run away.

Mr. Kulesh was arrested the following day and admitted to the crime. Two days later, he confessed that it was him who had murdered the two saleswomen in Lida.

Mr. Kulesh had previous convictions for theft, robbery and false denunciation. He had no permanent job.