Death Penalty News

Ashkan Khatibi, a popular TV and cinema actor in Iran who was detained three months ago for expressing solidarity with protesters, has spoken up about his ordeal. In a post Saturday, Khatibi, 43, said that in the past three months he has been living in hiding and fear. “I was arrested and questioned for allegations made against me 90 days ago, charged and my case was handed over to a judge,” he wrote in Persian in his post which also included a message in English. Khatibi said his “endless” interrogations came with verbal and physical violence and that after being freed he was assaulted in the street by plainclothes security forces who accused him of blasphemy. The actor said he received so many death threats by phone that he had to change his cellphone number. “I had to leave behind my career, my life, and everything that I had worked hard for all my life.”

The following story has been Google translated from Belarusian. Read the original here . The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has appealed to the Pardon Commission under the President of the Republic of Belarus to invite Vice President and human rights activist Valyantsin Stefanovich to a meeting to consider the pardon petition of brothers Ilya and Stanislav Kostev . The possibility of the presence of representatives of state bodies, public associations and mass media at the sittings of the commission is enshrined in Clause 9 of the Regulations on the Procedure for Pardoning Convicts, Exempting from Criminal Liability Persons Assisting in Disclosure and Elimination of Consequences of Crimes approved by Presidential Decree99.1 250. In addition, paragraph 5 of the Regulation stipulates that the opinion of public organizations may be taken into account when considering a pardon application. FIDH is one of the leading international human rights organization...

PLEASE TAKE ACTION AND SHARE WIDELY On 22 May, the Supreme Court of Belarus upheld the death sentences of young brothers Stanislau and Illia Kostseu, aged 19 and 21 respectively. RELATED | Belarus: Two brothers sentenced to death for murdering former teacher They have appealed to President Lukashenka for clemency.  RELATED | Death Sentences For Brothers In Belarus Also 'A Punishment For Their Families' RELATED |  'My brothers on Europe's last death row' The President has granted clemency only once since coming to power in 1994.  If clemency is denied, Stanislau and Illia Kostseu will be executed imminently. TAKE ACTION: Write a letter in your own words or using the sample below as a guide to one or both government officials listed. You can also email, fax, call or Tweet them. President of Belarus, Alyaksandr Lukashenka Vul. Karla Marksa, 38 220016, Minsk Belarus Fax: +375 17 226 06 10 +375 17 222 38 72 Email: cont...

Any day now, it's possible that two men will be executed in the only European country where the death penalty still exists - but their family will never find out when they were shot, or where they were buried. Five months ago, Hanna Kostseva was in court when her two brothers, Stanislaw and Ilya, aged 19 and 21, were sentenced to death for murder. "When the judge read out the verdict to 'apply an exceptional measure of punishment in the form of execution', people in the courtroom began to clap," she says. "Initially, just one started, then another followed, then a third, and in the whole hall only applause was heard. For me, at that moment, it was like my own life was cut short." Hanna says she then approached the cage in which her brothers had pleaded guilty to the murder of one of her neighbours. She managed to squeeze close to them and hug them through the bars, and promised she would do everything possible to save their lives. ...

Brothers, Stanislau and Illia Kostseu aged 19 and 21, were sentenced to death on 10 January for the murder of their next-door neighbor .  When the verdict was read out in the Mohilev regional court, eastern Belarus, the public gallery applauded the decision.  The Supreme Court hearing on their case will happen soon and if the sentence is upheld, they will be at imminent risk of execution.  The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and their death sentence should be commuted. HOW YOU CAN HELP Write a letter in your own words or using the sample below as a guide to one or both government officials listed. You can also email, fax, call or Tweet them. ➤  Gennady Bronislavovich Davydko Chair of the Human Rights Commission and the Parliamentary Group on Death Penalty Abolition Chamber of Representatives of the National Assembly Sovetskaya street, 11 Minsk 220010, Republic of Belarus Fax: +375 17 222...

The following petition has been Google translated into English. Click here to read the original petition. An appeal will be sent to the President of the Republic of Belarus by the sister of the Kostevy brothers sentenced to be shot - Anna Kosteva to pardon the convicts and replace the death penalty  sentences with imprisonment or life imprisonment. “In January 2020, two of my brothers, Ilya and Stanislav Kostevy, were sentenced to death for murder. Bowing my head to the relatives and friends of the murdered woman and accepting all the pain caused by the actions of my brothers, I still ask you to show mercy to them. I understand that my brothers committed an irreparable act - they took the life of an innocent person and somehow correct it, to return this life they have chosen is no longer subject to anyone [ better translation needed. Can you help? - DPN].  But you, Alexander Grigoryevich, have the power and the right to save the life of my two brothers...

After another death was recorded in Belarus, this time of Viktar Skrundzik, who was sentenced to death by the Minsk Regional Court, the EU reiterated its opposition to the country’s practice and called on Belarus to declare a moratorium on capital punishment. According to a statement issued by the European External Action Service (EEAS), the death penalty “violates the right to life, which is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” and Belarus should “commute the remaining death sentences”. The Union has repeatedly called for the abolition of capital punishment in Belarus, the only country in the European territory that still carries out executions and refuses to abide by international law. “The death penalty … is the highest cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. The death verdicts cannot serve as a deterrent to crime. Justice errors are irreversible,” said the EU in a statement on January. Source: neweurope.eu , Staff, March 11, 2020 ⚑ | Report...

Two brothers who killed their next-door neighbor in the town of Cherykau were sentenced to death this month by a Belarusian court. The country is the last in Europe to impose the death penalty. In interviews with Current Time, the convicts' mother and sister expressed their grief, saying that the sentence also inflicts a harsh punishment on the family. RELATED |  Belarus: Two brothers sentenced to death for murdering former teacher Source:   rferl.org , Staff, January 30, 2020 ⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com . Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

The pair’s final hope of staying alive is to plead for clemency from strongman president Alexander Lukashenko - but he has already publicly branded them “scum”. They were found guilty of stabbing teacher Natalya Kostritsa around 100 times before setting her house on fire. Two brothers have been sentenced to death after they were found guilty of brutally murdering their former teacher. Stanislaw Kostsew, 19, and his brother Illya, 21, face being blindfolded and made to kneel before being shot in the back of the head by a state executioner in Belarus - the last country in Europe where execution is permitted. The pair’s final hope of staying alive is to plead for clemency from strongman president Alexander Lukashenko - but he has already publicly branded them “scum”. They were found guilty of stabbing teacher Natalya Kostritsa around 100 times before setting her house on fire. Unusually, Lukashenko - who has dismissed international human rights criticism over the us...

The European Union condemned the new death sentences that the Mogiliov court of Belarus passed to brothers Ilya and Stanislav Kostev. The EU website reports. "The death penalty violates the inalienable right to life, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and is the highest cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. The death verdicts cannot serve as a deterrent to crime. Justice errors are irreversible," the EU said. It is reported that on January 10, 2020, the Mogiliov Regional Court of Belarus issued two death sentences to brothers Ilya and Stanislav Kostev. The EU also noted that 3 sentences were carried out last year, and only 4 people are now in the death line. “The introduction of a moratorium on the death penalty in Belarus will be the 1st positive step towards abolishing the death verdicts,” the EU added. Belarus is currently the only country in Europe that has the death penalty. And in May 2019, the Council of Europe called o...