BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
14/05/2010
2 men sentenced to death in authoritarian Belarus, last country in Europe to execute convicts
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MINSK, Belarus - A court in authoritarian Belarus has sentenced two men to death for the murder of two women and a man during an armed robbery.
Belarus is the only country in Europe to practice capital punishment, the abolition of which European Union officials have named as a top priority for improved relations.
A court in Grodno, 270 kilometres west of the capital Minsk, found the 28- and 29-year-old men guilty Friday in the October killings and of stealing $520 and torching the victims' house.
Both men had prior convictions.
Statistics on executions, which Belarus conducts via firing squad, are kept secret. Rights activists estimate more than 400 have been put to death since the country gained independence in 1991.
The convicted men have 10 days to file an appeal.
Source:
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