27 March 2009 :

two representatives of the global human rights watchdog Amnesty International arrived in Minsk, Belarus, on a four-day visit. Nicola Duckworth, Amnesty’s program director for Europe and Central Asia, and Heather McGill, an expert on Belarus, will present reports on why Belarus should abolish the death penalty. Mr. McGill visited Minsk in October 2008 to meet with government officials and relatives of those sentenced to death. The latter refused to meet with the expert when he arrived, despite prior agreements.