Belarus must stop the execution of man on death row

The Belarus authorities must stop the execution of a man who was this week sentenced to death for murder, Amnesty International said.

The homeless man originally from Ukraine, who has not been named, is a jail inmate who was sentenced on 30 April for killing a fellow prisoner in Mahiliou, eastern Belarus.

The death sentence enters into force on 3 May, and the man could be executed within months.

Amnesty International has longstanding concerns about the right to a fair trial in Belarus, the only country in Europe and Central Asia that still carries out executions.

Death row prisoners are not informed beforehand about the day of their execution.

"Belarus' status at Europe's sole executor is shameful. The authorities must immediately commute this death sentence and establish an official moratorium on executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty," said David Diaz-Jogeix, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia.

2 prisoners were sentenced on Tuesday in connection with the murder of a prisoner by a group of inmates.

Both are serving sentences for previous crimes, and for one the cumulative sentence is the death penalty, the prosecutor's office said.

The condemned man is from the Zhytomyr region, Ukraine and was homeless in Belarus. There is little further information on the case.

It is Belarus' 1st death sentence since the high profile case of Uladzslau Kavalyou and Dzmitry Kanavalau, who were sentenced to death in November 2011 and executed in March 2012.

"The Belarus authorities must provide more objective information on this case, rather than carrying out this cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment in a typically secretive manner," said David Diaz-Jogeix.

Amnesty International has longstanding concerns about the secrecy surrounding the death penalty in Belarus.

Prisoners risk being tortured into "confessing", while those condemned to death do not have access to adequate appeal procedures.

Executions are carried out by shooting the condemned person in the back of the head. Prisoners are only informed hours, or even minutes, before they are executed.

Prisoners' bodies are not returned to their families for burial, and families are not told where they are buried.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception.

Source: Amnesty International, May 2, 2013

Florida executes Andrew Richard Lukehart

Jacksonville man who killed his girlfriend’s 5-month-old baby in 1996 executed 30 years later A Jacksonville man who confessed to killing his girlfriend’s 5-month-old daughter and throwing her body in a pond 3 decades ago was executed on Tuesday evening. Andrew Richard Lukehart, 53, was scheduled to receive a 3-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was sentenced to death after being convicted of aggravated child abuse and felony murder in the death of Gabrielle Hanshaw. The baby’s mother told News4JAX she plans to attend the execution.

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20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a firsthand account of the final moments of Hamida Djandoubi, a convicted murderer executed by guillotine at Marseille’s Baumettes Prison on September 10, 1977. The record—dated September 9—was written by Monique Mabelly, a judge appointed by the state to witness the proceedings. Djandoubi’s execution would ultimately be the last carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. At the time, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing—who had publicly voiced his "deep aversion to the death penalty" prior to his election—rejected Djandoubi’s appeal for clemency. Choosing to let "justice take its course," the President allowed the execution to proceed, just as he had in two previous cases during his term: Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977. Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was execu...

New Mississippi billboard warns criminals: ‘Firing squad is legal’

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Can the state execute a man who already survived? | Opinion

A second execution would be an unimaginable nightmare for Tony Carruthers and a moral horror for the rest of us. Tony Carruthers is not supposed to be alive . On May 21, Tennessee set out to execute him. It failed. Carruthers survived. He is not the first person to survive an execution in the United States, and he won’t be the last. For Carruthers, the question is: Now what? Will the state seek to arrange a second execution?

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Iran executes Esma Zarei in Ardabil Prison after she gave birth in custody

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Tennessee | Questions Raised About the Doctor Who Was Overseeing Tony Caruthers’ Execution

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