The two reported executions in Belarus are a cause of deep concern to the Ukrainian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, says Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, in his statement on 22 July. The abolition of capital punishment remains one of the main priorities of the Council of Europe, which has been fighting for 30 years to banish the death penalty across Europe and to make abolition a universally accepted value.

Ukraine has successfully abolished capital punishment. Therefore it offers its positive experience to Belarus, the only country in Europe which still uses capital punishment, to initiate practical steps to introduce a moratorium on the use of the death penalty with a view to its complete abolition.