The EU condemned the execution of Aliaksandr Hrunou
16- 6.11.2014, 13:24
- 12,514
The EU condemned the execution of Aliaksandr Hrunou from Homel, who was sentenced to death in April 2014.
It was issued by European External Action Service, BelaPAN reports.
The EU “recognizes the greatness of Aliaksandr Hrunou’s crimes”. “Nevertheless, the EU opposes death penalty, as the death penalty is unacceptable in any case. The capital punishment is considered to be barbarous and inhumane. It does not have a deterrent value and it neglects human dignities and immunity”, is reported in the issue.
The EU calls Belarus, the only country in Europe with capital punishment, to join moratorium on it, which can be the first step upon its total abolition.
Hrunou 26 years old was convicted of murder Natallya Emelyanchikova, the student from Homel. The girl was murdered in September 2012 - she was inflicted more than 100 stab wounds. This murder Hrunou committed in a year upon the expiry of the penalty for severe beating his mother’s live-in boyfriend, after that he succumbed to injuries.
First time Hrunou was sentenced to death by Homel regional court in June 2013, but four months later the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus overturned the conviction and expedited the case for a new trial to the court of the first instance. In December 2013 Homel regional court resentenced Hrunou to death. This year in April the Supreme Court left the sentence unchanged.
In November 4 the defenders reported that the sentence against Hrunou was enforced. His mother got a “to be called for” parcel with things his son had had with him in the condemned cell. However, the execution still has no official confirmation. The day before, November 3, the defender got news that Aliaksandr Lukashenka hadn’t granted a pardon to Hrunou. All procedures to appeal capital punishment have been out.
Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) were among those who condemned another case of capital punishment in Belarus.
