The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area Legal Framework During the reporting period, no changes were introduced in national legislation regulating the scope of application or execution of capital punishment in Belarus.104 The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus provides for the imposition of the death penalty as an exceptional punishment for particularly grave crimes and only in accordance with the law.105 Under the Criminal Code, the death penalty may be applied for severe crimes connected with the deliberate deprivation of life with aggravating circumstances.106 In particular, capital punishment may be imposed for 12 crimes in peacetime and two crimes in times of war.107 It is not a mandatory sentence for any of these crimes and, by means of a pardon by the president, may be commuted to life imprisonment.108 The law prohibits the imposition of the death penalty on women, men under the age of 18 at the time of committing the crime or men over 65 at the time of sentencing.109 Under the Criminal Executive Code of the Republic of Belarus, executions are carried out secretly; bodies of executed persons are not handed over to families and the place of burial is kept secret.110 Moratorium There is no moratorium on death sentences or executions in Belarus. The state did not report on any measures to introduce a moratorium on the death penalty. 104  Belarus response, op. cit., note 99. 105  Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, Article 24, 27 November 1996. 106  Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, Article 59 (1), 9 July 1999, amended on 17 July 2006. 107  The Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus provides for the application of the death penalty for the following crimes: unleashing or conducting a war of aggression (Article 122 (2)); murder of a representative of a foreign state or international organization, with the intention to provoke international tension or war (Article 124(2)); international terrorism (Article 126); genocide (Article 127); crimes against humanity (Article 128); premeditated, aggravated murder (Article 139 (2)); terrorism (Article 289 (3)); terrorist acts (Article 359); treason accompanied by murder (Article 356 (2)); conspiracy to seize power (Article 357( 3)), sabotage (Article 360 (2)), murder of a police officer (Article 362); use of weapons of mass destruction (Article 134); murder of a person in violation of the laws and customs of war (Article 135 (3)). 108  Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, op. cit., note 106, para. 3; and Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, op. cit. note 105, Article 84 (19). 109  Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, op. cit., note 106, para 2. 110  Article 175 of the Criminal Executive Code of the Republic of Belarus, 16 July 1999, amended on 25 July 2012. 27