A German man sentenced to death in Belarus (formerly Byelorussia) wept bitterly and begged ruthless ruler Alexander Lukashenko for mercy in a video broadcast on state television. The German government did nothing to save him, the desperate man complained.
Only his own family is still fighting for his life. However, no one from the official side is standing up for him, the man said in the video. “I am alive, there is still time to negotiate, it is not too late,” he pleaded. “The government should fight for me.” In the video, which was apparently launched by the Belarusian leadership, the convicted man tearfully asks to see his daughter, his girlfriend and his father again.
He repeatedly stressed that he had made the biggest mistake of his life. “I regret every second of it,” he admitted. “I can only count myself lucky that no one was killed or injured. Thank God!” His last hope is a pardon from ruler Lukashenko, who is considered the last dictator in Europe and has already carried out death sentences against foreigners. “I can only hope that the president of this country, Mr Lukashenko, will forgive me.”
Belarus is the only country in Europe that still imposes the death penalty
The man was sentenced to death in June for, among other things, “terrorism on the orders of the Ukrainian secret service.” However, the verdict was not made public until a month later by civil rights organizations. “I plead guilty, absolutely,” he admitted.
Authoritarian Belarus is the latest country in Europe to carry out the death penalty, which is a shooting in the neck. The Foreign Ministry in Berlin said the case was known. The man is receiving consular care. The death penalty is a cruel and inhuman form of punishment that Germany rejects under all circumstances, people said angrily. However, the office did not comment on an offer to negotiate made by Minsk. The Foreign Ministry in Minsk said it had made suggestions to Berlin on how to resolve the situation. No details were available.
Hope for prisoner exchange
There has been speculation that Belarus, an ally of Russia, might be interested in a prisoner exchange. Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin is interested in returning a Russian convicted by Russian authorities in Germany for a murder in Berlin’s Kleiner Tiergarten. Putin hosted Lukashenko on the Valaam monastery island in Lake Ladoga near St. Petersburg.
Several human rights organizations had called on the authorities in Belarus to halt the execution. The death sentence is particularly alarming because there have been numerous and systematic violations of the right to a fair trial and a fair trial before Belarusian courts, the Libereco organization warned earlier this week.
Source: Krone
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