Threat of death penalty?

Belarus: German sentenced for “terrorism”

The regime of President Alexander Lukashenko has already submitted "concrete proposals for solutions" to the German government in the case of the convicted German.

(Bild: APA/AFP/POOL/Pavel BEDNYAKOV)

The former Soviet republic of Belarus is the only country in Europe where the death penalty is still carried out. A German citizen who has been convicted of "terrorism" and "mercenarism" is now apparently facing the death penalty. The German authorities are now fighting for the life of the former Red Cross emergency paramedic.

According to the Foreign Ministry in Berlin, the case is well known and the German authorities are working "intensively" on the man's behalf. The trial took place partly behind closed doors. The Belarusian state news agency Belta did not initially report on the case. According to the human rights organization Vyazna, the conviction of the German is connected to the so-called Kastus Kalinouski Regiment, a military unit made up of Belarusian volunteers who are fighting alongside Ukraine against Russia. In Belarus, the regiment is classified as an "extremist group".

Sabotage on railroad lines and infrastructure objects
According to Vyazna, the court found the German guilty of a total of six charges, including founding or participating in an "extremist group", sabotage and secret service activities. The man has been in custody since November 2023, the NGO reported. Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, which was supported by Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko, several people have been arrested in the country on charges of committing acts of sabotage in favor of Kiev. 

Vyazna is highly respected internationally; its founder Ales Bjalyatski (pictured) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. In 2023, a court sentenced him to ten years in prison.

(Bild: APA/AP)

After the invasion began, opponents of the Russian war of aggression in Belarus also destroyed infrastructure objects such as railroad lines in their own country that were used by the Russian military. They are called rail partisans there. Among other things, weapons and other armaments are produced in Belarus for Putin's war against Ukraine.

Is German being used as a bargaining chip?
So far, there are no known cases of Belarus enforcing the death penalty against foreigners. Rather, Rico Krieger, as the German is called, could be used as a bargaining chip by Lukashenko. According to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, "concrete proposals for solutions" have already been submitted to Berlin.