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Only referendum can ban death penalty in Belarus, says president

Alexander Lukashenko emphasized that a plan was drafted on working with the Belarusian society on the issue of death penalty

VIENNA, November 12. /TASS/. The issue of outlawing the capital punishment in Belarus can only be decided through a referendum, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday following his talks with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen in Vienna.

According to him, the death penalty issue was initially solved by a referendum. "Our constitution says that the capital punishment can only be outlawed through a referendum," the president noted.

"The European Union is demanding that we ban death penalty already. We cannot be indifferent about it. We often conduct polls regarding this issue. Nothing has changed since that issue was decided by a referendum," Lukashenko said. "A question arises - should we hold a referendum to decide this issue and have it return a negative answer? I don’t think we should."

The leader also emphasized that a plan was drafted on working with the Belarusian society on the issue of death penalty. "We are moving forward in this area. Rushing will not do any good," he added.

On November 11-12, Lukashenko is paying his first visit to the EU since 2016 when Brussels lifted personal sanctions imposed on him. The EU introduced visa sanctions against Belarus and its president for human rights violations in 2002. In February 2016, Brussels partially lifted the sanctions that were in place for more than 13 years. The EU decided against extending its restrictions imposed on 170 Belarusian officials, including Lukashenko, and three companies. Meanwhile, an arms embargo as well as sanctions against four Belarusians remain effective.

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