Belarus executes death-row convict

Belarus has executed a murderer on a death row Kiryl Kazachok from Mazyr who was sentenced to death penalty for killing his two children,  local human rights defenders report. The execution could have taken place in the autumn of 2017.

Kazachok, 39 was found guilty by a Homiel Regional Court in December 2016 of murdering his 9-year-old daughter and 17-year-old son in January 2016. The man himself reported the murder to the police before throwing himself out off a balcony but survived. Kazachok was in a drunken state when he killed the children to punish his wife for wanting a divorce. He refused to appeal the death penalty sentence and was held in a detention center in Minsk awaiting the execution.

Belarus is the only country in Europe where capital punishment is still used.