The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area of 18 when the crime was committed or over 65 at the time of sentencing.37 The Constitution of Belarus gives the President authority to grant clemency and commute a death sentence to life imprisonment.38 Petitions for clemency are first considered by the Clemency Commission.39 Moratorium There is no moratorium in place on either the imposition or carrying out of death sentences. Method of execution The death penalty is carried out by firing squad.40 Statistics Death sentences The number of death row inmates is not known. Some recent reports indicate the figure to be 102.41 Vladislav Kovalev and Dmitriy Konovalov were sentenced to death on 30 November 2011 by the Supreme Court of Belarus. According to the response received from Belarus, they were convicted in connection with the bombing of the Minsk metro station in April 2011, which killed 15 and injured over 200 others.42 However, reports suggest that Konovalov was also convicted of perpetrating the bomb attacks in 2005 in Vitebsk and in 2008 in Minsk.43 The men, aged 25 at the time of sentencing, were unable to appeal their conviction and sentence because the judicial institution that found them guilty and handed down the death sentence was the Supreme Court, the highest appellate court. According to Belarus’s response to ODIHR’s questionnaire, Kovalev, who had retracted his confession and pleaded notguilty to the charges, filed a supervisory complaint, following the decision of the Supreme Court.44 The grounds for complaint were not stipulated in the response, 37  Ibid. 38  Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, Art.84 (19). 39  Belarusian Presidential Decree No. 250, “On the introduction of the regulation of provisions for pardoning procedures in the Republic of Belarus”, 3 December 1994. 40  Criminal Code, op. cit., note 36. 41  Penal Reform Report, op. cit., note 23. 42  Belarus Response, op. cit., note 28. 43  European Parliament Resolution, “Death penalty in Belarus, in particular the cases of Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzislau Kavalyou”, 16 February 2012, (E.U. Parliament Resolution), <http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc. do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2012-0063+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN>. 44  Belarus Response, op. cit., note 28. 10