Belarus
2026
- GOVERNMENT
- nominally a republic, in fact a dictatorship
- CONSTITUTION
- March 15, 1994; amended 1996, 2004
- LEGAL SYSTEM
- based on civil law; not subject to the jurisdiction of the ICJ
- LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
- bicameral, National Assembly (Natsionalnoye Sobranie) composed of the Council of the Republic (Soviet Respubliki) and the House of Representatives (Palata Predstaviteley)
- JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- Supreme Court (composed of the president and vice president and organized into various specialized chambers, including economic and military; number of judges determined by the president of the republic and the president of the court); Constitutional Court (composed of 12 judges, including a president and a vice president); oblast courts; City Court of Minsk; city courts; Economic Courts of the city and oblast of Minsk
RELIGIONS
Orthodox 48.3%, Catholics 7.1%, others 3.5%, non-believers 41.1% (estimate 2011)
From the country
- FEBRUARY 8, 2006BelarusDEATH PENALTY
BELARUS. TWO PEOPLE EXECUTED IN 2005, SUPREME COURT CHAIRMAN
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.
- JANUARY 10, 2006BelarusDEATH PENALTY
BELARUS. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF THREE IN MINSK REGION
a man was sentenced to death and his minor accomplice to 15 years imprisonment after the Minsk Regional Court, Belarus, found them guilty of committing three murders.
- JANUARY 1, 2006BelarusDEATH PENALTY
Article 24 of the constitution reads that
Article 24 of the constitution reads that "the death penalty...
- DECEMBER 27, 2005BelarusDEATH PENALTY
BELARUS. TWO LEADERS OF THE "KRICHEV GANG" SENTENCED TO BE SHOT
Oleg Potapenko and Vyacheslav Knyazkov, two leaders of a gang that “terrorized the Mogilyov region” between 2001 and 2004, were sentenced to death in Belarus.
- DECEMBER 27, 2005BelarusDEATH PENALTY
Petr P. Korablev was sentenced to death, in Belarus.
Petr P. Korablev was sentenced to death, in Belarus.
- DECEMBER 8, 2005BelarusDEATH PENALTY
Nikolai A. Lubich was sentenced to death, in Belarus.
Nikolai A. Lubich was sentenced to death, in Belarus.
- NOVEMBER 29, 2005BelarusDEATH PENALTY
Viktor I. Tikhikh, was sentenced to death, in Belarus.
Viktor I. Tikhikh, was sentenced to death, in Belarus.
- OCTOBER 26, 2005BelarusDEATH PENALTY
BELARUS. DEATH PENALTY BILL PASSES FIRST READING IN PARLIAMENT
the Belarusian National Assembly's House of Representatives (parliament's lower house) passed the first reading of the amendments to the Penal Code that provide for the temporary use of capital punishment in Belarus.
- OCTOBER 24, 2005BelarusDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is envisaged for 14 crimes.
The death penalty is envisaged for 14 crimes.
- OCTOBER 11, 2005BelarusDEATH PENALTY
BELARUS. MURDERER OF PREGNANT SHOP ASSISTANT SENTENCED TO DEATH
Alexei M. Serdukov, a 36-year-old jobless resident of the Ivatsevichi district, Brest region, was sentenced to death by a regional court panel for the murder of a pregnant shop assistant.
- OCTOBER 10, 2005BelarusDEATH PENALTY
BELARUS. MINISTRY AGAINST ABOLITION OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
the full abolition of the death penalty in Belarus in favor of life imprisonment would not be helpful, though the number of death sentences is declining, reporters were told at the corrections department of the Belarusian Interior Ministry.
- OCTOBER 10, 2005BelarusDEATH PENALTY
COUNCIL OF EUROPE. PACE PRESIDENT URGES BELARUS, UZBEKISTAN TO ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY
Rene van der Linden, president of Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, urged Belarus and Uzbekistan to abolish the death penalty in his public appeal on the occasion of the World Day Against the Death Penalty.