Belarus pardons German man facing execution
The Peninsula
Moscow: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has decided to pardon a German man facing the death penalty, his office said Tuesday. Lukashenko...
Moscow: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has decided to pardon a German man facing the death penalty, his office said Tuesday.
Lukashenko "took the decision to pardon the German citizen Rico Krieger... taking into account all the circumstances," the president's press service said.
Krieger, 30, had been shown on Belarusian public television last week, saying "I really hope that President (Alexander) Lukashenko will forgive me and pardon me", according to a statement quoted by the Russian news agency TASS.
He was convicted under six articles of Belarus's criminal code in a secretive trial held at the end of June, the Viasna Human Rights Centre reported.
Lukashenko held a meeting Tuesday with the investigator in the case and Krieger's defence lawyer to discuss whether to apply the death penalty, his press service said.