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
JANUARY 16, 2021BelarusDEATH PENALTYBELARUS: MAN RE-SENTENCED TO DEATH AFTER RETRIAL
A court in Belarus on 15 January 2021 re-sentenced a man to capital punishment on murder charges, Minsk-based human rights center Viasna said.
JULY 2, 2020BelarusDEATH PENALTYBELARUS: IN RARE MOVE, SUPREME COURT CANCELS DEATH SENTENCE IN HIGH-PROFILE CASE
Belarus's Supreme Court has upheld the appeal of a death-row inmate and annulled his sentence in a murder case, a very rare move in the tightly controlled state led by autocratic President Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
- MARCH 9, 2020BelarusDEATH PENALTY
BELARUS: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN SLUCK ON DOUBLE MURDER CHARGE
A new death sentence was handed down in Belarus on 6 March 2020 after a panel of judges of the Minsk Regional Court found Viktar Skrundzik, a 29-year-old resident of a village in the Sluck district, Minsk region, guilty of murdering two elderly people
- JANUARY 30, 2020BelarusDEATH PENALTY
BELARUS: PARLIAMENT TO LOOK INTO DEATH PENALTY ABOLITION
The Council of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus has decided to establish a working group on studying abolition of death penalty at the National Assembly.
JANUARY 12, 2020BelarusDEATH PENALTYBELARUS: FIRST DEATH PENALTIES OF 2020 HANDED DOWN
The Mogilev Regional Court sentenced two brothers, who were found guilty of committing a murder in a particularly violent manner, to the death penalty on 10 January 2020, the Human Rights Center Viasna said.
- JANUARY 1, 2020BelarusDEATH PENALTY
Article 24 of the constitution reads that
Article 24 of the constitution reads that "the death penalty...
DECEMBER 27, 2019BelarusDEATH PENALTYBELARUS: LUKASHENKO ON PROSPECTS FOR ABOLISHING DEATH PENALTY
Retaining the death penalty helps maintain stability in the country and prevent the spread of banditry, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he gave an interview to editor-in-chief of the Ekho Moskvy radio station Aleksei Venediktov in Minsk on
DECEMBER 24, 2019BelarusDEATH PENALTYBELARUS: MAN EXECUTED FOR THE MURDER OF TWO WOMEN
Alexandre Ossipovitch, 37, a citizen for the town of Bobrouïsk, was executed in Belarus on 17 December 2019, the newspaper Kamertsyïny Kourier stated, quoting the regional prosecutor Olga Ivanova.
OCTOBER 28, 2019BelarusDEATH PENALTYBELARUS: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING TODDLER
A man was sentenced to death in Belarus for killing a toddler, despite repeated calls by the European Union for the abolition of the capital punishment in the only European country that still carries out the death penalty.
JULY 31, 2019BelarusDEATH PENALTYBELARUS: SECOND MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH THIS YEAR
A man was sentenced to death in Belarus for double murder on 31 July 2019 despite repeated calls by the European Union for the abolition of capital punishment in the only European country that still carries out executions.
JUNE 14, 2019BelarusDEATH PENALTYBELARUS: PRISONER EXECUTED FOR MURDER
Alexander Zhilnikov was executed in Belarus for the murder of three people.
MAY 15, 2019BelarusDEATH PENALTYBELARUS: SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE IN DOUBLE-MURDER CASE
The Belarusian Supreme Court has upheld a death sentence for a man convicted of murdering two women, despite calls from the European Union for Minsk bring an end to capital punishment.