Ihar Hershankou and Siamion Berazhnoy were convicted and sentenced to death by the
Mahiliou Regional Court, in eastern Belarus, on 21 July 2017. Theirs are the second and
third death sentences imposed in Belarus in 2017.
On 21 July 2017, the Mahiliou Regional Court, in eastern Belarus, sentenced Ihar Hershankou and Siamion Berazhnoy to death. The two men were found guilty of murdering six people between 2009 and 2015 with the aimof appropriating their property. The case has become widely known as the “black real estate agents” case.
They will appeal their death sentences before the Supreme Court in the coming weeks. If the appeal fails, they can request clemency from President Alyaksandr Lukashenka. Since 1994 the Supreme Court has upheld all death sentences that came before its review and President Lukashenka has only once granted clemency, which means that Ihar Hershankou and Siamion Berazhnoy will likely be at risk of execution in the near future.
In Belarus, no notice is given of the date or time of execution, neither before nor after they are carried out, and no final meeting with relatives is granted. Death row prisoners are executed with a shot to the back of the head. In accordance with Belarusian law, their bodies are not returned to their families for burial, nor is the location of the
burial site disclosed.
Belarus is the only country in Europe and Central Asia which continues to implement the death penalty. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception. The death penalty violates the right to life, as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
