BELARUS: 2 MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER

May 14, 2010: at a court in Grodno, Belarus, judge Pyotr Bandyk sentenced Aleg Gryshkautsou (29) and Andrei Burdyka (28), to death for the October murder of two women and a man during an armed robbery. They allegedly stole $520 and torched the victims' house. The court considered the guilt of these people to have been proven completely," Bandyk said. Both men, who had prior convictions, remained quiet throughout the proceedings, the judge told The Associated Press.
Bandyk said the men knew their victims, and arrived at the apartment under the pretext of a social visit. An argument broke out, and the men stabbed the women and man to death, before making off with the cash and kidnapping Ilya, a 10-year-old boy.
With the boy in tow, the pair hailed a taxi, but the driver fled when they pulled in at a gas station, and alerted the police. The boy was rescued and the men _ carrying bloody knives and possessions of their victims _ were arrested, Bandyk said.
Aleg Gryshkautsou and Andrei Burdyka have 10 days to appeal against the sentence to the Supreme Court. If refused, they can apply to Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka for clemency.
(Sources: Taiwan News, Amnesty International, 15/05/2010)