Crime & Justice, Europe, Headlines, Human Rights

Church Urged to Fight Death Penalty

Pavol Stracansky

BRATISLAVA, Sep 13 2010 (IPS) - The Church is being urged to abandon its apolitical stance to help end the death penalty in Belarus as campaigners for its abolition warn that two men could be executed within weeks in the former Soviet state.

Representatives of Amnesty International say that they have begun talks with the Church as the organisation looks to build up “internal pressure” on President Alexander Lukashenka to quickly declare a moratorium on the punishment.

Heather McGill from Amnesty International who spoke to IPS from Belarus where she was in a series of meetings with MPs and Church leaders about the death penalty said: “Although there have been some recent encouraging, positive noises made by MPs and authorities about at least a moratorium on the death penalty, nothing concrete is being done.

“Outside pressure, from the Council of Europe and the EU, for example, has not worked, and only pressure built up from inside Belarus, with the help of the Church, to change public opinion and influence Lukashenka, will change anything.”

Belarus is the only country in Europe still executing people, and the former Soviet state has faced years of international condemnation over its continued use. Critics attack not only the retention of the sentence itself but also raise concerns over the fairness of trials in Belarus, use of torture when confessions are made, and the mental health of those convicted.

There are no reliable official statistics available but rights groups estimate that as many as 400 people may have been executed since Belarus became an independent state in 1991. As recently as March this year — despite huge international pressure — two men were executed following their convictions for murder.

The regime, led by President Alexander Lukashenka who has overseen a de facto dictatorship in the country since he came to power in 1994, has been told it cannot join Western organisations such as the EU or the Council of Europe without ending the death penalty. Government members have previously said that there are active discussions being held about abolishing the death penalty, and earlier this year a parliamentary committee on the death penalty was established.

But some observers say that Lukashenka is using the death penalty as a “bargaining chip” with the West which he will promise to end if and when the West offers him something he wants.

Olga Stuzhinskaya, director of the non-profit organisation Office for a Democratic Belarus based in Brussels, told IPS: “Government officials have made a few statements but nothing concrete has been done. For now it remains one of the political cards in the game, a bargaining chip which politicians will use in talks with the West.”

Amnesty this month began talks with the parliamentary committee to push for at least a moratorium on the death penalty. Belarus officials say that the death penalty cannot be abolished without a referendum — something they and Amnesty admit will be difficult, with public support for the death penalty still high.

A referendum in 1996 showed that 80 percent of the population supported the death penalty and it is believed levels of support have not dropped significantly since then.

Amnesty is hoping that the Orthodox Church, which though separate from the state and politics is known to have a strong influence on public opinion, can help in the push for a moratorium. Church leaders have already agreed to hold a roundtable meeting which would involve the parliamentary working committee on the death penalty and at which Amnesty hopes to have foreign experts give talks on the death penalty and its alternatives.

McGill said: “The Church and state are said to be separate and the Church says it cannot get involved in politics. But we believe it can begin to help, for instance in at least lobbying for the bodies of executed prisoners to have a burial, which does not happen now. The Church also does have some influence with the regime.

“The Church could also help change public attitudes. While there is high public support here for the death penalty this is down to the fact that most people do not even know that there is a functioning death penalty in Belarus or they do not know how it is carried out — that people are simply told their appeal has failed and immediately taken out and shot, and their bodies are not given to families and their relatives are not told where they have been buried.

“If they knew about all this then we are sure that many of them would not support the death penalty. But there is so much secrecy around this. The only way to change public opinion is to educate people, and this is where the Church can help.”

It is feared though that any progress on ending the death penalty is likely to come too late to help two men currently on death row.

Aleg Gryshkautsou (29) and Andrei Burdyka (28) were sentenced to death in May following convictions for murder, assault and kidnap during a robbery last year. They have appealed to Lukashenka for clemency. He has until Sep. 17 to make a decision but is not expected to grant a pardon.

McGill said that the probable execution of the pair showed Belarussian leaders and the public need to take a new, more educated view of the death penalty.

She said: “The killings of two men earlier this year were a great shock because Belarus was under so much international pressure not to go ahead with them but they simply did it anyway, which is why we are so concerned about the two people on death row now.

“Public opinion needs to change and politicians need to move away from treating the death penalty as a political bargaining chip. It’s about human lives and what kind of society you want to live in — one based on justice and law or on revenge, which is what the death penalty is.”