Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 10 March (BelTA) – The international conference Death Penalty: Transcending the Divide which is currently underway in Minsk is a landmark event, EU Special Representative for Human Rights Stavros Lambrinidis said, BelTA has learned.

“I am pleased to be here, at this historic moment,” he noted. Stavros Lambrinidis also welcomed the Belarusian MPs partaking in the conference.

The EU Special Representative for Human Rights pointed out that the number of nations that stopped using the death penalty has considerably increased since the 20th century. More than 150 countries have a moratorium or a total ban on capital punishment.

Stavros Lambrinidis believes that life sentence should be the maximum punishment, rather than the death penalty. He added that in some countries the majority of people initially opposed the abolition of capital punishment, just like in Belarus. However, the heads of state there decided to abandon the practice, and some time later people agreed with the decision.