Belarus is the last country in Europe still to apply the death penalty, executing several people each year by firing squad.
The Minsk Regional Court in Belarus sentenced a German national to death last month, human rights activists reported on Friday.
The man, Rico Krieger, was put on trial in May on charges of terrorism as well as “being a mercenary”, “creating an extremist group”, “intentionally damaging a vehicle”, and “illegal operations with firearms, ammunition, and explosives”.
The sentence is said to have been delivered in late June, according to the activists.
No other details, including whether Krieger is still alive, are known about the case at this time.
According to Krieger’s LinkedIn profile, he had been working at the German Red Cross since 2021 as an emergency medical technician.
He was also listed as working at the US embassy in Berlin as a security guard between 2014 and 2017.
Silencing dissent continues
A former Soviet republic, Belarus is the last country in Europe still to apply the death penalty, executing several people each year by firing squad.
Many of the charges in Krieger’s case carry a death sentence for sabotage-related acts by a sentenced terrorist, a law introduced in May 2022 as part of President Alexander Lukashenko’s crackdown on protesters.
Lukashenko has also been subject to EU and US sanctions for his tacit support of Russia’s war in Ukraine, but also his authoritarian rule and violent suppression of democracy.
Since the vast protest movement of 2020 against Lukashenko’s re-election — in power since 1994 — many opponents have been charged and arrested for attempting or preparing an act of terrorism.
A number of opposition figures were sentenced to long prison terms, and independent NGOs and media were banned and branded as extremists.
It is believed that Krieger’s court case is part of a recent escalation in persecution of Lukashenko’s regime.
Earlier this month, the Brest regional court opened proceedings against 63-year-old Natallya Malets, who is charged with “facilitating extremist activities” for allegedly wiring funds to political prisoners 125 times. She is facing up to six years in prison.
On 8 July, the Hrodna regional court began the trial in absentia of journalist Aliaksandr Ales Kirkevich on the same charge. It remains unclear what Kirkevich, a writer and local historian, did to be charged with the offence.
The charges brought up against him in March also accuse another independent journalist, Iryna Charniauka, of the same crime.
