The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2017 These death sentences are in contrast with the work of Belarus’ Parliamentary working group established in February 2010 with the aim to study the issue of the abolition of the death penalty in the country (hereafter “the working group”). The Council of Europe, the European Union and OSCE institutions have issued statements throughout the reporting period urging Belarus to respect the right to life and to join a global moratorium on the death penalty as a first step towards its full abolition.72 By way of example, on 30 November 2016, at the 1272nd meeting the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers adopted a decision regarding the abolition of the death penalty in Europe, expressed deep disapproval of four further death sentences pronounced in Belarus, in contravention of the global trend towards abolition, since their last exchange of views on 7 and 8 October 2015, respectively against Ivan Kulesh on 20 November 2015, Henadz Yakavitski on 5 January 2016, Sergey Khmelevsky on 16 February 2016 and Siarhei Vostrykau on 19 May 2016.73 In the same decision, the Committee of Ministers condemned the executions of Ivan Kulesh and Sergey Khmelevskey which immediately preceded the Committee of Ministers debate on the abolition of the death penalty. Executions between 1 April 2016 and 31 March 2017 Name Entry onto force of the death sentence Crime Reported date of execution Siarhei Ivanov 14 July 2015 Rape and murder 18 April 2016 Siarhei Khmialeuski 6 May 2016 Theft and murder 5 November 2016 Ivan Kulesh 29 March 2016 Three counts of aggravated murder, attempted murder, theft and robbery 5 November 2016 Guennady Yakovitsky 8 April 2016 Aggravated murder 5 November 2016 According to the information provided to ODIHR by the Belarusian Government, four executions were carried out in Belarus within the reporting period, which 72  Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, “OSCE/ODIHR Director calls on Belarus to stop executions, introduce immediate moratorium on death penalty”, 9 May 2016, <http://www.osce.org/odihr/239336>; see also The Delegation of the European Union to Belarus, “Local EU Statement on a death sentence in Belarus”, 28 March 2017, <https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/belarus/23593/node/23593_en>; see also Andrea Wiktorin, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Belarus, “Belarus has the ultimate role to play in making the European continent free from executions”, 10 October 2016, <http://eeas.europa.eu/archives/delegations/belarus/ press_corner/all_news/news/2016/2016_10_10_1_en.htm>. 73  Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, 1272nd meeting – 30 November 2016, “Abolition of the death penalty in Europe”, <CM/Del/Dec(2001)769/4.4, CM/Del/Dec(2015)1237/4.5, CM/Inf(2016)32. https://search. coe.int/cm/Pages/result_details.aspx?ObjectId=09000016806be4ed>. 26