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Death penalty abolition key to normal relations between Belarus, EU, German minister says

The abolition of capital punishment in Belarus is one of the main conditions for the restoration of the country's normal relations with the European Union, Ronald Pofalla, chief of staff of the German Chancellery/federal minister for special affairs, told reporters in Minsk on Thursday.

"The most serious obstacle to Belarus' cooperation with Europe is the application of the death penalty," he said. "One must say in no uncertain terms that capital punishment is fully unacceptable for us. This is a clear position of the European Union and the Council of Europe."

The German minister said that he had raised the subject in a speech at Minsk Forum XIII on November 3. "In a conversation with Uladzimir Makey, head of the Presidential Administration, the matter was not raised, but he knows our position. However, there was no reaction to my remark on his part," Mr. Pofalla said. //BelaPAN