Belarus sentences Minsk subway bombers to death

[News_Editor]

Belarus sentences Minsk subway bombers to death

2011-12-01 08:28:27 GMT+7 (ICT)

MINSK (BNO NEWS) -- The Supreme Court of Belarus on Wednesday sentenced two men to death for carrying out a bomb attack in the Minsk subway earlier this year, RIA Novosti reported.

Dmitry Konovalov and Vladislav Kovalyov were both found guilty of detonating an explosive device at the subway station on April 11, killing 15 people and injuring more than 200 others.

The court said Konovalov, who was accused of being the mastermind behind the attack, had repeatedly committed acts of terrorism. Kovalyov, as an accomplice to the crime, had known about Konovalov's practices for years, failing to report them to law enforcement agencies.

The Supreme Court's ruling is final and may not be appealed, the judge said. The two men are to be executed by shooting.

Persons sentenced to death may only appeal to the president for pardon, but this is unlikely to happen. Belarus' leader Alexander Lukashenko has only once granted a pardon, commuting the death penalty to a 20-year prison sentence in 1996.

Belarus remains the only European country which imposes and carries out the death penalty. Last year, two people were sentenced to capital punishment and eventually executed in Belarus.

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