Capital Punishment in Belarus - Public Opinion

Public Opinion

In a 1996 referendum, one of the seven questions asked was about the opinion of Belarusian people about abolishing the death penalty. According to the results of this referendum, 80.44% of Belorussians were against abolishing the death penalty. However, at the time of the referendum, the longest available prison sentence was 15 years. Since then, the sentence of lifelong imprisonment was introduced, in December 1997. There have not been more recent surveys to determine whether the change in maximum prison sentence affected public sentiment about the death penalty.

More recently a parliamentary special working group announced plans to conduct a public opinion poll, but the Information and Analytical Center with the Administration of the President took over this undertaking. The Center has released its report, “Public Opinion about the Activity of the Organs of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus,” which included the questions about death penalty and the attitudes of Belarusian citizens about abolition of capital punishment. That poll showed only 4.5% of the respondents were against capital punishment in all cases. 79.5% considered capital punishment appropriate punishment for at least some grave crimes. But about 10% had a difficulty answering these questions or offered no opinion .

There have been several steps toward reducing the use of the death penalty in Belarus. The Law of the Republic of Belarus of 31 December 1997 added Article 22 which allows for “imprisonment for the term of one’s life (life imprisonment) as an alternative to capital punishment.” Three categories of persons no longer may be executed: people under 18 years of age, women, and men over 65 years.