[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

March 20


BELARUS:

Belarus Unmoved Despite Criticism


The Kremlin on Monday hosted controversial Belarussian leader Alexander 
Lukashenko for talks about deeper economic integration amid growing calls for 
tougher sanctions against Belarus for the execution of 2 convicted bombers.

Lukashenko took part in a summit of the Eurasian Economic Community, which 
Prime Minister and President-elect Vladimir Putin wants to develop into a union 
of former Soviet states that would rival the European Union.

Belarussian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Rumas said after the talks that 
participants had agreed on working out concrete steps to counter any sanctions. 
“All sides agree that no group of states should put pressure on any member 
state,” Rumas was quoted as saying by Interfax.

EU officials talked of introducing broader economic sanctions against Minsk 
because of the executions of Vladislav Kovalyov and Dmitry Konovalov, who were 
convicted of carrying out a bomb attack in the Minsk metro that killed 15 
people and wounded more than 300 in April 2010.

Belarussian state television said over the weekend that the 2 had been 
executed, prompting horror and outrage in the West.

Germany’s Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper called Lukashenko a “merciless 
barbarian” in an editorial published Monday.

Human rights activists say that the trial against the two had raised suspicion 
about their guilt. The doubts were fueled by a Belarussian High Court decision 
in January ordering the destruction of all material evidence against them.

Critics also said the seemingly hurried execution could be part of an official 
cover-up.

“An opinion has also been expressed that the death sentence was executed so 
fast because the 2 men knew something about the real organizers of the 
terrorist attack,” Estonian lawmaker Andres Herkel said on his website.

Jacek Protasiewicz, a Polish member of the European Parliament, said the 
27-country union would probably slap new sanctions against Minsk and withdraw 
its ambassadors permanently from Belarus, leaving its diplomatic relations at 
consular level.

“Lukashenko’s tragic, shocking and incomprehensible decision showed that he is 
not interested in cooperation with the West,” Protasiewicz told Polish radio 
station RMF FM, the Naviny.by website reported.

Last month, the EU recalled its ambassadors from Belarus after Minsk kicked out 
the Polish and EU envoys in retaliation for Brussels’ decision to ostracize 
more Belarussian officials.

Dubbed “Europe’s last dictator,” Lukashenko has seen his ties with the West 
worsen dramatically since his December 2010 re-election.

He launched a violent crackdown on opposition activists who complained about 
vote-rigging.

Brussels has so far focused on sanctions against individual officials but is 
facing louder demands for extending the penalties further.

Dmitry Uss, who ran against Lukashenko in the election and was arrested along 
with most other candidates after the vote, called for tougher European 
sanctions.

“I beg you to show wisdom, toughness and decisiveness and impose economic 
sanctions against Belarus in order to save the country from further decline,” 
he wrote in an open letter to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, the 
Belapan news agency reported.

The European Parliament said in a resolution last week that the EU should 
impose broad economic sanctions.

Europe is Belarus’ major trade partner after Russia, and the country sells 
large quantities of potash, petroleum products and oil to several EU members.

Moscow has already signaled that it would not approve of sanctions against 
Minsk.

“We won’t allow any harm to our Belarussian colleagues,” deputy Prime Minister 
Dmitry Rogozin said last week.

Most experts agreed Monday that both Lukashenko and Moscow will continue to 
ignore Western public opinion.

“It can’t get much worse than it is right now,” Belarussian analyst and 
opposition politician Yaroslav Romanchuk said.

He said outrage about the death sentence is not shared by most people in 
Belarus and that the backlash could actually boost Lukashenko’s popularity.

“He will just say that he is not bowing to outside interference,” Romanchuk 
said.

He added that economic sanctions would likely miss their mark because Minsk 
could easily circumvent them by redirecting exports through Russia.

Konstantin Zatulin, a former United Russia State Duma deputy who heads the 
influential Commonwealth of Independent States Institute think tank, said 
Moscow would not and should not change tack.

“Russia and Belarus have lived over hundreds of years together through wars and 
revolutions. We won’t change relations just because of an execution,” he said.

Zatulin scoffed at Western criticism of Belarus, which he said is too narrow 
because it considers only the death penalty and economic difficulties, both of 
which can be found elsewhere.

“What about the death penalty in the United States?” he asked, adding that 
Belarus’ financial troubles were less severe than those of Greece.

Others pointed out that the latest spat with Europe would only boost Russia’s 
influence over its western neighbor.

“The more isolated Lukashenko is from the rest of the world, the more dependent 
he is on Moscow,” political commentator Konstantin Eggert said on Kommersant 
FM.

(source: St. Petersburg Times Russia)






SUDAN:

Death Penalty for Rebels


6 members of a major Darfur rebel group were sentenced to death on Tuesday, 
including a top commander, the group’s lawyer said. A 7th member of the group, 
the Justice and Equality Movement, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The 
charges included terrorism, illegally carrying arms and murder, the lawyer 
said. The ruling was another blow to the rebels, whose leader was killed by 
government forces in December.

(source: New York Times)