The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2018 On 20 January 2018, Vyachaslau Sukharka, 25, and Alyaksandr Zhylnikau, 45, were convicted of the murder of two persons, robbery and other crimes.25 In December 2015, they were initially sentenced to life imprisonment. However, after an appeal by a prosecutor was upheld by the Supreme Court on 14 July 2017, on 20 January 2018 the Minsk City Court changed the punishment to death penalty in the re-trial. On 23 January 2018, the EU condemned the two death sentences, adding that “the death penalty does not serve as a deterrent to crime, and errors, inevitable in any legal system, become irreversible”.26 In July 2017, the Belarusian Supreme Court upheld the death sentence against Aliaksei Mikhalenia,27 who was initially found guilty on 17 March 2017 by Gomel Regional Court of committing two murders in 2016.28 Executions between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2018: Siarhei Vostrykau, 33 years old, was sentenced to death by Homel Regional Court on 19 May 2016 for the rape and murder of two women in two separate incidents in 2014 and 2015.29 The verdict came into force on 4 October 2016.30 In May 2017, local media and human rights NGOs stated that Vostrykau was possibly executed in April 2017.31 ODIHR condemned the execution of Vostrykau on 8 May 2017, and stressed that “the use of the death penalty is completely out of place in a region where most countries recognize the inherently cruel, inhuman and degrading nature of a punishment 25  In the reply to the 2018 2018 ODIHR questionnaire, Belarus stated that Sukharka was found guilty of “deliberately unlawfully depriving two persons of their life, committed with particular cruelty, associated with robbery, by a group of persons and a person who had previously committed murder; the use of violence dangerous to the life and health of the victim, with the aim of seizing property in a particularly large amount and home invasion, committed repeatedly, by a group of people, causing serious physical harm” and Zhylnikaw was found guilty of “deliberately unlawfully depriving two persons of life, committed with particular cruelty, associated with robbery, by a group of persons, and a person who had previously committed murder; in complicity in a premeditated murder committed with special cruelty, coupled with robbery; in the use of violence dangerous to the life and health of the victim, with the aim of directly capturing property in a particularly large amount, with penetration into the home, repeatedly, by a group of people, causing serious physical harm; in complicity in the use of violence dangerous to the life and health of the victim, with the aim of seizing property in a particularly large amount, home invasion, committed repeatedly, by a group of people, causing serious physical harm”. 26  “Statement by the Spokesperson on two death sentences in Belarus”, European External Action Service, 23 January 2018 <https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/38599/statement-spokesperson-two-death-sentences-belarus_en>. 27  “EU Local Statement on the decision of the Belarus Supreme Court to uphold the death sentence against Aliaksei Mikhalenia, delivered in the 1291st Meeting of the Committee of Ministers (5 July 2017)”, European External Action Service, 5 July 2017, <https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/council-europe/29432/eu-local-statement-decision-belarus-supreme-court-uphold-death-sentence-against-aliaksei_en>. 28  “The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2017”, OSCE/ODIHR, op. cit., note 6, p.25; “Amnesty International Global Report: Death Sentences and Executions 2017”, op. cit., note 17. 29  Ibid. 30  In the reply to the 2018 ODIHR questionnaire on the situation of the death penalty in the OSCE region Belarus stated that Vostrykau was “found guilty of a deliberate murder committed with special cruelty, in order to conceal other crimes; and rape”. 31  Приведен в исполнение смертный приговор в отношении убийцы двух девушек, Tut.by новости, 5 May 2017, <https://news.tut.by/society/542223.html?crnd=90425>. 12