Part III: The situation of the death penalty in the OSCE region 1. Retentionist participating states 1.1. Belarus Belarus remains the only country in Europe that still applies the death penalty. Article 24 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus still enshrines the death penalty as an exceptional measure of punishment for some especially serious crimes.136 The Criminal Code of Belarus exempts certain groups from the imposition of the death penalty, including women, and people who committed the crime when they were under 18 years of age, or are older than 65 at the time of the sentencing.137 In accordance with Article 175 of the Criminal Law Enforcement Code, the death penalty is “carried out by firing squad with no members of the public present. The execution of the death penalty shall be carried out separately for each convict and without other death convicts present.”138 Although the President of Belarus can grant clemency, he has done so only once since 1994.139 136 The Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, as amended up to January 2016, envisages the death penalty for thirteen crimes: Art 122 (2): “Unleashing or conducting a war of aggression”, Art 124 (2): “Act of Terrorism directed against the representative of a foreign state or international organization”, Art 126 (3): “Act of International Terrorism”, Art. 127: “Genocide”, Art. 128: ‘Crimes against humanity”, Art. 134: “Use of weapons of mass destruction”, Art 135 (3): “Violation of laws and customs of war”, Art 139 (2): “Murder under aggravating circumstances, Art 289 (3) “Act of Terrorism”, Art 357 (3): “Conspiracy, or other actions, taken with a purpose to seize state power”, Art 359 (2): “Act of Terrorism directed against state or public official”, Art. 360 (2): “Sabotage”, Art. 362: “Murder of an employee of internal affairs bodies”. 137 Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, Art. 59.2(2). 138 FIDH – HRC “Viasna”, “Death Penalty in Belarus: Murder on (Un)lawful Grounds”, October 2016, p. 64. 139 Viasna, «Дайте шанс исправиться». Родные осужденных на смерть братьев Костевых обратились к Лукашенко («Give a chance to improve.» Relatives of the Kostev brothers, condemned to death, turned to Lukashenko), 3 June 2020. 37