Belarus says in talks over German man sentenced to death

Belarus said Saturday it was holding "consultations" with Germany, a day after it emerged that Minsk had ordered the execution of a 30-year-old German man.

Rico K. was convicted by a Belarusian court last month under six articles of the criminal code, including "terrorism" and "mercenary activity," the country's human rights group Viasna reported Friday.

He was sentenced to death by firing squad, according to an article on the group's website.

What have Belarusian authorities said?

"Taking into account a request from the German Foreign Ministry, Belarus has proposed concrete solutions on the available options for developing the situation," said Belarusian Foreign Ministry spokesman Anatoly Glaz.

"The foreign ministries of the two countries are holding consultations on this topic," he added.

Glaz also said that Minsk had provided consular access to the convicted person, without mentioning K. 

The German Foreign Ministry declined an immediate response to the Belarusian remarks.

On Friday, a ministry spokesperson said it had been informed about the conviction and that authorities were "providing the person in question with consular services" and "making intensive representations to the Belarusian authorities on his behalf."

Case details remain sketchy

Few details have been released officially about the case, but the AFP news agency reported that the conviction was said to be related to the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment, a military unit made up of Belarusian citizens fighting alongside Ukraine against Russia.

Belarus is a close ally of Moscow and allowed Russian troops to be stationed in the country ahead of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Viasna also said the convictions were related to laws against mercenary acts, agent activity, acts of terrorism, creating an extremist group, deliberately rendering a vehicle or communications device unusable and illegal actions relating to firearms, ammunition and explosives.

It is unclear if K. is allowed to appeal the verdict.

K. has been held in custody since November 2023 and was sentenced on June 24 following mostly secret court proceedings, according to the rights group.

He works as a medic for the German Red Cross and was previously an armed security officer for the US embassy in Berlin, according to what is believed to be his LinkedIn profile.

Several people executed every year

Belarus is the last remaining European country to carry out executions, 

More than 400 people are reported to have been put to death since the country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, according to Amnesty International. But executions of foreign citizens are rare.

Over the last decade, between 2 and 9 people annually were sentenced to death, the rights group Belarusian Helsinki Committee said on its website.

In the last two years, Minsk has extended the threat of execution as punishment for high treason and "attempted terrorism."

The country's leader, Alexander Lukashenko, who rules with an iron fist, has detained thousands of dissidents and civic activists in the past few years.

Many have been charged with "attempted terrorism," including Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the exiled Belarusian opposition leader, who was Lukashenko's main contender in the widely-disputed 2020 election.

Lukashenko ordered a brutal crackdown on mass protests that erupted for weeks after the polls.

He claimed to have received 80% of the vote, while international election monitors say the election was neither free nor fair.

mm/ab (AFP, Reuters)

Editor's note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and urges us to refrain from revealing the full names of alleged criminals.