Belarus pardons German sentenced to death

State media in Belarus on Tuesday reported that President Alexander Lukashenko had decided to pardon German national Rico K., who was sentenced to death in June on terrorism and other charges. 

Lukashenko "took the decision to pardon the German citizen ... taking into account all the circumstances," the president's press service said.

A spokesperson for Germany's Foreign Office later confirmed that a German national in Belarus was pardoned.

"The news comes as a relief," the spokesperson said, according to Reuters. 

It was already known that his lawyers were seeking a stay of execution and that Lukashenko was considering the bid, after he had asked for a pardon on TV. 

Lukashenko was holding a meeting to consider the pardon request in Minsk on Tuesday. 

"I've already said before that the hardest thing in the life of a president is such cases related to the death penalty," Lukashenko was quoted as saying at the meeting.

What was the case about? 

Details about the young man are relatively scant, but Belarus had accused him of photographing sensitive military sites and of collaborating with Ukrainian security services, something authorities in Kyiv have denied.

He was convicted under six articles of Belarus' criminal code last month after a secretive closed trial.

State media in Belarus also last week aired a televised a statement from the man. In that, he said Ukraine's SBU spy agency had told him to take photos of military facilities and also to plant explosives on a train. He said the explosives detonated by did not hurt anyone.

"I deeply regret what I did and I am relieved that there were no victims," he said, adding that he had been "abandoned" by the German government.

It's not clear to what extent these comments might have been made under duress or as part of the bid to secure a pardon. A German foreign ministry spokeswoman was highly critical of the appearance. 

"It is unfortunately common practice in Belarus to present people in videos or on television like this and we are of course very concerned that being paraded in this way massively violates that person's dignity," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Kathrin Deschauer said. "We can only appeal to the Belarussian leadership to stop this practice."

How Belarus fits into Russia's war in Ukraine

Although Belarus is not formally a party to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it remains probably Vladimir Putin's closest ally. It also allowed Russian troops to enter Ukraine via its territory at the start of the war, providing them a shorter route towards the capital Kyiv.

An OSCE report soon after the invasion nevertheless stopped short of defining Belarus as a party to the war, "as long as it does not itself commit acts of violence or other acts that would constitute direct participation in the hostilities by persons attributable to Belarus."

Belarus is the only European country to continue to actively use capital punishment.  

You can read more details about the case and Rico K. here. 

msh/wmr (AFP, Reuters)