The Belarusian democratic forces adopted a Memorandum on the Abolition of the Death Penalty in Belarus; the document was passed by the Coordination Council on 17 June 2025 and joined by the United Transitional Cabinet and the Office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
"Abolishing the death penalty is at the core of the Council of Europe action. I welcome the Memorandum which is a strong step forward in the fight for human rights, democracy, and dignity," said Secretary General Alain Berset.
The Memorandum demonstrates a unified commitment of the democratic forces to ending capital punishment in Belarus in all cases and under all circumstances. The democratic forces declare their commitment to enact the necessary legislative changes, incluing changes to the Constitution, to abolish the death penalty, as well as take all the steps to raise public awareness on the abolition process.
The adoption of this Memorandum stems from discussions held at the seminar organized by the Council of Europe in Warsaw on 5 March 2025 within the framework of the Contact Group between the Council of Europe and Belarusian democratic forces and civil society. The aim of this seminar was to examine political, social and legal challenges linked to the abolition of the death penalty, and to discuss potential next steps to prepare the ground for the abolition of the death penalty in Belarus, which is the only country in Europe still applying this inhuman and degrading treatment.
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