/ / News
04.05.2017

Belarus parliament discusses death penalty issues

MINSK (BelTA) – Death penalty issues were discussed in the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus on 3 May. Attending the meeting were MPs and foreign experts, BelTA has learned.

Andrei Naumovich, Chairman of the Human Rights, National Relations, and Mass Media Commission of the House of Representatives, stated that a working group on death penalty was set up in the new-convocation parliament. The working group will inform the public on the aspects of the punishment and provide a full-fledged monitoring of the situation. MPs will hold meetings in constituencies, study people's opinion in the regions. “The matter requires a wide-ranging discussion with the people of the Republic of Belarus,” Andrei Naumovich said. He also mentioned that this issue was discussed during the recent visit of Andrea Rigoni, Rapporteur on Belarus of the Political Affairs and Democracy Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), to Belarus.

MPs and senators expressed their opinions on the matter during today's meeting. One of the key speakers was member of the Death Penalty Expert Group at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Parvais Jabbar.