Belarus has introduced the death penalty for attempts to carry out acts of terrorism, charges that several opposition activists are currently facing in the ex-Soviet country.
Africa Today News, New York reports that Belarus which is a close ally of Russia that has supported its military offensive in Ukraine is the only country in Europe that continues to carry out executions despite calls for a moratorium at the moment.
“Lukashenko signed a law on the possibility of the death penalty for an attempted terrorist act,” the RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing an online government portal for legal information.
It revealed that the law would come into force 10 days after its publication.
Two years ago, Belarus faced historic protests against the re-election of strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the country with an iron fist for over two decades.
Thousands of activists were arrested in the crackdown and the key leaders of the opposition movement are now either jailed or in exile.
Among them was Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a political novice who ran against Lukashenko in the August 2020 polls in place of her jailed husband.
She now leads the Belarusian opposition from exile in Lithuania, while her husband Sergei Tikhanovsky is serving 18 years in jail on what supporters believe are politically motivated charges.
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Last March, Belarusian prosecutors charged Tikhanovskaya in absentia with ‘preparing acts of terrorism as part of an organised group’, according to Belarusian state news agency Belta.
Tikhanovskaya denounced Wednesday the decision of the ‘lawless regime’ to expand the use of the death penalty, saying it targeted anti-government activists.
‘This is a direct threat to activists opposing the dictator and the war,’ Tikhanovskaya tweeted.
‘I urge the international community to react: sanction lawmakers and consider any tools to prevent the political killings,’ she added.
Belarus and its leadership are already under a litany of Western sanctions over its handling of the opposition protest and over its support for Moscow’s campaign in Ukraine.
But many opposition activists remain behind bars in Belarus awaiting trial.