BELARUS. OFFICIALS HINT MORATORIUM A STEP AWAY

June 6, 2008: Belarus, the last country in Europe to apply the death penalty, will eventually abolish capital punishment by presidential decree or parliamentary vote, rather than by calling on the people to decide the issue in a referendum.
This was confirmed in a carefully-worded statement by the country's prosecutor general, Grigory Vasilevich, issued to IPS. 'The Constitutional Court believes that under existing conditions only the president and the parliament are able to abolish the death penalty or declare a moratorium,' Vasilevich said, adding that the punishment in Belarus was only a 'temporary' measure.
Earlier, the deputy head of the presidential administration, Natalia Petkevich, had insisted that the death penalty could be abolished only by a referendum. Vasilevich gave no indication when Belarus, a nation of nearly 10 million people which was formerly part of the Soviet Union, would abolish capital punishment. (Sources: IPS, 13/06/2008)