Belarus
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · President Alexander Lukashenko has been sharply criticized...
- News items in the archive
- 243
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Belarus is classified as Retentionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 243 news items on Belarus, from 1999 to today.
Belarus is the only European country that still carries out death sentences. The method is shooting. Neither the place of execution nor the place of burial is communicated to the families, who learn of it afterwards, in some cases from a certificate.
In recent years the country has widened the list of offences punishable by death. The archive follows sentences, executions and requests for a stay.
Latest news
- JANUARY 1, 1999BelarusDEATH PENALTY
In April 1993, the Parliament passed (in first reading)...
In April 1993, the Parliament passed (in first reading) a draft Penal Code of the Republic which provides for capital punishment only in cases of premeditated murder under aggravating circumstances
- JANUARY 1, 1999BelarusDEATH PENALTY
The main reasons for the retention of the death penalty...
The main reasons for the retention of the death penalty are the serious crime rise in the Republic, and the fact that the idea of abolition has no public support
- JANUARY 1, 1999BelarusDEATH PENALTY
Capital crimes are: state treason; conspiracy aimed...
Capital crimes are: state treason; conspiracy aimed at seizure of state power; terrorism, terrorist act against a foreigner; sabotage; gangsterism; actions aimed at frustrating order in prisons; premeditated murder under aggravating circumstances; rape by