23/03/2010 President
Joint statement by the Chair of the Committee of Ministers, Micheline Calmy-Rey, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly, Mevlüt Çavusoglu and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland
Strasbourg, 23.03.2010 - "The Council of Europe strongly condemns the executions of Andrei Zhuk and Vasily Yuzepchuk in Belarus. The death penalty is barbaric and degrading, and this is why it has been abolished by the Council of Europe through Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights. The authorities of Belarus are the only remaining ones in Europe who execute people. The recent executions, if confirmed, are a serious setback to our aspiration to bring Belarus closer to European values. The Council of Europe is ready to help Belarus end its self-imposed isolation in Europe, but when it comes to the values of human rights and democracy, one cannot have it both ways. We therefore call for an immediate end to the use of the death penalty.”