Belarus proposes solutions for convicted Germans
Belarus is the only European country where the death penalty is still enforced. A German has been sentenced to death there.
According to media reports, the leadership in Minsk has proposed "solutions" in the case of the German sentenced to death. German and Belarusian diplomats reportedly held talks about the case and the man's fate, according to news agencies quoting the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.
The Belarusian side reportedly suggested some "solutions." The Belarusian news agency Belta quoted a spokesperson from the Foreign Ministry in Minsk as saying that, considering the request from the German Foreign Ministry, Belarus had proposed concrete solutions from the available options. No details were given. The man was also granted consular access. The Foreign Office in Berlin initially declined to comment.
The Belarusian human rights organization Viasna announced on Friday, citing unnamed sources, that a German had been sentenced to death in Belarus on terrorism charges and for mercenary activity. The man is reportedly in custody since November 2023 and was sentenced on June 24.
The German Foreign Ministry stated that the case was known to them. The Foreign Office and the embassy in Minsk are providing consular assistance and are intensely lobbying with Belarusian authorities on behalf of the man. The death penalty is a cruel and inhumane form of punishment that Germany rejects under all circumstances. Belarus is a close ally of Russia.
Belarus is the only European country where the death penalty is still imposed and carried out - exclusively against men. The condemned are shot with firearms. The data of the executions are not disclosed, and the bodies of the executed are not returned to their families. They are also not informed of the burial site.
The proposed "solutions" in the German's death sentence case have become a topic of discussion between Belarusian and German diplomats. Despite Germany's strong stance against the death penalty, it continues to be the only form of execution enforced in Belarus, even in cases like this one in Belarus.
