Third death penalty sentence in 2016

Belarus has issued a third death sentence to since the begining of this year. A 33-year-old resident of Homiel was found guilty of brutally murdering two young women.

He was charged under several articles in the Penal Code - Rape (Article 166 (1-2), Violent Sexual Abuse (Article 167 (2), Kidnapping (Article 182 (1), Murder (Article 139 (6,8,16), Theft (Article 205 (1-2). The trial was held at the Regional Court behnd the closed doors since late February. The man was sentenced to death penalty (execution by shooting). The verdict is yet to come into full force and can be appealed, Regional Court spokesperson Volha Barsukova told Homielskaja Prauda.

Alesia Pantsialeyeva, 25 went missing in July 2014. Aliautsina Mashurykava went missing in May 2015. The women worked with the convict at the same enterprise. He would offer the women a ride to work but instead would take them to a garage, rape and kill them and bury the bodies in the woods. The police identified the suspect after learning what car rode one of the victims.

The suspect was convicted earlier for robbery but released ahead of time. He has a wife and a child.