BELARUS. GANG MEMBER SENTENCED TO DEATH

the Vitsebsk Region court, Belarus, made public the sentences handed down to four members of a gang which operated in Polatsk. One of them, Sergei M. Pugachev, was sentenced to death and another, A. Burdenka, to life imprisonment. The two had been found guilty of four murders, two of which were committed in the summer of 2001. The defendants reportedly killed and robbed two girls. Two more murders took place in 2002. Two drivers en route from the Baltics to Russia allegedly fell victim to the two.