The Belarussian House of Representatives began hearings...

The Belarussian House of Representatives began hearings on the repeal of death penalty. A repeal of death penalty or a declaration of a moratorium on its application are conditions for the republic's admission to the Council of Europe and restoration of the status of a specially invited state to the PACE.
The chairman of the permanent commission on human rights of the House of Representatives, Valery Lipkin, told Tass that reports at the hearings would be made by the country's prosecutor-general, chairman of the Supreme Court, the justice minister and Metropolitan Filaret, the head of the Belarussian Orthodox Church.
Lipkin noted that according to his information, most legislators are inclined to preserve the death penalty institute in Belarus. Supporters of the death penalty claimed that its repeal would bring about a new wave of crime. In the opinion of opponents of capital punishment, a direct correlation between rise in crime and the repeal of capital punishment has not been established yet.
For instance a rise in grave crimes was recorded in 1997 and 1998 when the number of death sentences in Belarus reached the peak, totalling 46 and 47 cases, respectively. In 2000-2001, the number of death sentences dropped by 75 percent in the country as against the mid-1990s.
In 1996, the question on a repeal of death penalty was put to a nation-wide referendum. Over 80 percent of citizens who participated in the referendum, voiced support for preservation of this type of punishment.