The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2018 that fails to act as a deterrent and makes any miscarriage of justice irreversible”.32 Similarly, the Rapporteur on the situation in Belarus of PACE33 and the EU34 denounced the execution and urged the country’s authorities to abolish the death penalty on 5 and 6 May 2017, respectively. Kiryl Kazachok, 39, indicted for the deliberate murder of his two children, was sentenced to death on 28 December 2016 by the Homel Regional Court.35 According to the information provided by Belarus to ODIHR, the verdict came into force on 10 January 2017.36 Kazachok was executed in October 2017, according to PACE and Amnesty International.37 On 8 March 2018, the EU Spokesperson reaffirmed the EU’s strong opposition to capital punishment in all circumstances and added that it “violates the inalienable right to life enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment”.38 The same day, also the PACE Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty and on the former Rapporteur on the situation in Belarus condemned the execution of Kazachok and added that “the execution of Kiryl Kazachok is all the more shocking since it took place secretly in October 2017, while the relatives of the convicted were only informed recently.”39 Belarus did not provide the exact dates of the executions in its reply to the 2018 ODIHR questionnaire. Both executions were carried out in secret and the families of the executed only learned that the executions had taken place after they had occurred.40 Generally, the Belarusian authorities do not provide information about the date of executions or the place of burial to the families or to the public. Article 175 32  “Condemning recent execution in Belarus, OSCE/ODIHR Director repeats call for immediate moratorium on death penalty”, OSCE/ODIHR, 8 May 2017 <https://www.osce.org/odihr/315931>. 33  “Rapporteurs condemn execution of Siarhei Vostrykau in Belarus”, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, 5 May 2017, <http://www.assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/News/News-View-EN.asp?newsid=6637&lang=2%20 >. The statement also states that “the Assembly’s Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy adopted a draft report on 26 April 2017 urging the Belarusian authorities to show genuine political will on the issue of capital punishment and the administration of justice by not carrying out the death sentences recently pronounced against Kiryl Kazachok and Siarhei Vostrykau”. 34  “Statement by the Spokesperson on the execution in Belarus of Siarhei Vostrykau”, European External Action Service, 6 May 2017, <https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/vienna-international-organisations/25677/execution-belarus-siarhei-vostrykau_sq>. 35  “The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2017”, OSCE/ODIHR, p.25, op. cit., note 6. 36  In the reply to the 2018 ODIHR questionnaire on the situation of the death penalty in the OSCE region, Belarus stated that Kazachok was “found guilty of the deliberate murder of two persons, including a child in a helpless state”. 37  “Amnesty International Global Report: Death Sentences and Executions 2017”, op. cit., note 17. 38  “Statement by the Spokesperson on the execution of Kiryl Kazachok in Belarus”, European External Action Service, 8 March 2018, <https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/41034/statement-spokesperson-execution-kiryl-kazachok-belarus_en>. 39  “Belarus: rapporteurs strongly condemn the execution of Kiryl Kazachok in October 2017”, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, 8 March 2018, http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/News/News-View-EN.asp?newsid=6979&lang=2&cat=5 40  “Amnesty International Global Report: Death Sentences and Executions 2017”, op. cit., note 17. 13