Today, the first event under the auspices of the Council of Europe Information point for Belarusian people in Vilnius has taken place in the Martynas Mažvydas National Library. The topic of the event, the abolition of the death penalty with a focus on the case of Belarus, is linked to the World Day Against the Death Penalty, observed on 10 October.
The Council of Europe Information point for Belarusian people in Vilnius inaugurated by Secretary General Alain Berset, and Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys on 12 May 2026, as well as today’s event are part of the activities under the Council of Europe Contact Group on cooperation with Belarusian democratic forces and civil society.
A meeting place for Belarusian democratic forces and civil society
Jerzy Baurski, Special Coordinator of the information point, said at the opening of the event: “My ambition as the Special Coordinator of the Information point for Belarusian people in Vilnius is to create here a meeting place for Belarusian democrats, Council of Europe experts, representatives of diplomatic community, civil society, and youth. This way, the Council of Europe can get closer to the Belarusian people and use this presence to implement activities agreed within the Contact Group on cooperation with representatives of Belarusian democratic forces and civil society. Let’s work together to promote European values and norms for the democratic future of Belarus”.
Rasma Ramoškaitė, Director of the United Nations, international organisations and human rights department at the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry, greeted the participants of the meeting. Lithuania is hosting the Information Point which was established following an agreement signed between the Council of Europe and the government of the Republic of Lithuania.
A virtual tour of Minsk and capital punishment
At today’s event in Vilnius, a new website on the history of the death penalty in Minsk has been launched. The project aims to raise awareness of the situation with the death penalty in Belarus through a “virtual visit” of places related to the capital punishment in the capital of the country in the 20th and 21st century.
Yuliya Ralko from the Belarusian National Youth Council (RADA) said: “The idea of this website came from the young participants of a workshop organised by the Council of Europe and RADA in May 2024 in Vilnius, as part of the contact group’s activities. We are very pleased to see this idea become a reality.”
The Council of Europe Coordinator for the abolition of the death penalty, representatives of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee and of the Office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya also took part in the round table discussion.
Strong political opposition to the death penalty at the highest level in Europe
The event in Vilnius is part of a broader range of Council of Europe activities marking the World Day Against the Death Penalty, which also included high-level statements and declarations.
Marking the day, Secretary General Alain Berset and High Representative of the European Union Kaja Kallas, made a joint statement in which they reiterated that the EU and the Council of Europe are unequivocally opposed to the death penalty, in all cases and in all circumstances, and once again stressed that Belarus remains the only country in Europe that still applies the death penalty.
Abolition of the death penalty took centre stage at the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers
At its latest meeting, on 7 October, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a comprehensive decision on the issue of death penalty, including in Belarus.
The Committee of Ministers members notably “deplored the fact that Belarus has made use of capital offences added to its criminal code in 2022 and 2023 to impose death sentence”. They reiterated their strong call on the authorities of Belarus to stop all executions pending abolition of the death penalty and to apply the alternative punishment provided for in the Belarusian criminal legislation.
The Committee of Ministers welcomed the adoption in June 2025 by the Belarusian democratic forces of a memorandum on the abolition of the death penalty in Belarus following a seminar organised by the Council of Europe within the framework of the Contact Group between the Council of Europe and Belarusian democratic forces and civil society. It also welcomed the organisation by the Council of Europe of a public event about the death penalty in Belarus at the last World Congress against the death penalty as part of the activities foreseen for 2026-27 by the contact group, and encouraged their implementation.
