The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area 4. Retentionist States BELARUS In September 2010, the government of Belarus acknowledged to the UN Human Rights Council the need to abolish the death penalty and stated its intention to mould public opinion in favour of abolition, as well as to continue its co-operation with the international community on this issue.20 Shortly after, on 6 December, at the Fourth All Belarus People’s Assembly, President Alexander Lukashenko stated that “the issue of capital punishment should be revisited”, as there are “strong [arguments] for the non-use of capital punishment.” At the same time, he stated that public opinion in favour of capital punishment should be taken into account.21 The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Rapporteur on Belarus, Sinikka Hurskainen, said that there has been a general lack of progress on human rights issues between the Parliamentary Assembly and the authorities in Belarus, and that discussions suspended in April 2010 remain on hold.22 As on previous occasions, on 21 December 2010, at the 65th UN General Assembly, Belarus abstained from voting on the resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty. Legal Framework The Constitution of Belarus provides that, until it is formally abolished, the death penalty may be applied in accordance with the law as an exceptional penalty for particularly serious crimes.23 The Criminal Code states that the death penalty may be imposed in cases of severe crimes connected with the deliberate deprivation of life with aggravating circumstances.24 The death penalty is applicable to 12 crimes in peacetime 20  Country entry on Belarus, Annual Report 2011-The state of world’s human rights, (London: Amnesty International, 2011) <http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/belarus/report-2011>. 21  “Lukashenko urges a revisiting of the death penalty issue”, BelTA, 6 December 2010, <http://www.law.by/work/ EnglPortal.nsf/NewsBelForInt/8A320DB5BB27BC22C22577F100570826?OpenDocument>. 22  “PACE Relations with Belarus Authorities to Stay Frozen”, Office for a Democratic Belarus, 12 April 2011, <http://democraticbelarus.eu/node/12187>. 23  Article 24 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, 27 November 1996. 24  Article 59(1) of the Criminal Code, 9 July 1999, amended on 17 July 2006. 7