BELARUS. TWO PEOPLE EXECUTED IN 2005, SUPREME COURT CHAIRMAN

February 8, 2006: two persons were put to death and eight people received life sentences in Belarus in 2005, Valyantsin Sukala, chairman of the Supreme Court, told reporters in Minsk.
"The death penalty was applied to persons who had been sentenced to capital punishment for serial murders and had previous convictions, those who simply could not have been punished in some other way any more," Sukala said.
Sukala pointed out that a moratorium on the death penalty in fact exists in the country. He added that courts would continue imposing capital punishment whilst the punishment was provided for by law.
"We cannot abolish the death penalty completely," he said. "It does not fall within the province of the judiciary." (Sources: Belapan News Agency via BBC Monitoring Ukraine & Baltics, 08/02/2006)