The process of abolishing capital punishment in the...

The process of abolishing capital punishment in the country is by no means straightforward, said Vladimir Konoplyov, deputy chairman of the Belarussian House of Representatives.
"Political, economic and social conditions must be in place, which took European countries 35 years to achieve," he said in the course of parliamentary hearings in Minsk on political and legal issues in abolishing the death penalty.
"A hasty decision on this problem may result in mounting social tensions," Konoplyov said. "Humanism and democracy cannot be instilled from above, even legislatively," he said.
The new criminal legislation enacted in 2000 reduced the number of crimes entailing capital punishment, Konoplyov said. The number of executions dropped from 47 in 1998 to seven in 2001, he said.