The Finnish Government has expressed regret for the recent executions of two prisoners in Belarus. The Helsinki authorities transmitted their support for the statement published by the European Union, which demands Minsk to introduce a moratorium on executions, as a step prior to its definitive elimination.
The Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pekka Haavisto, expressed through his Twitter account his discomfort with the executions recently reported. In line with the European position, Haavisto asked the Belarusian Government "to impose a moratorium on capital punishment as a first step towards its abolition and to commute all death sentences to imprisonment".
I deeply regret the reported executions in #Belarus in June 2019 - I call on Belarus to impose a moratorium on capital punishment as a first step towards its abolition and to commute all death sentences to imprisonment #EUstatementhttps://t.co/7tDJPaWsZr
— Pekka Haavisto (@Haavisto) June 17, 2019
The statement by the EU explains that "the execution of Aliaksandr Zhylnikau has taken place in Belarus in June 2019; according to reports there is a high probability that Viachaslau Sukharka was also executed". They both had been convicted for a double murder perpetrated in Minsk in 2015.
EU's strong opposition
In its statement, the European Union expresses "its sincere sympathy to the families and friends of the victims of the crimes committed". At the same time, the EU "reaffirms its strong opposition to capital punishment in all circumstances and calls on Belarus to introduce a moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolition".
The EU remarks that "the death penalty violates the inalienable right to life enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment". "The continued application of the death penalty goes counter Belarus' international commitments", it says.
Belarus is the only country in Europe still applying capital punishment.
