Amnesty International has called on Belarusian...

According to a document published on Monday by Amnesty International, Europe was an "execution-free zone" in 2009 with no capital punishment carried out within the continent. The organization said it was "very disappointing" that Belarusian authorities had executed two prisoners on Friday, against the world opinion of abolishing the death penalty.

"The death penalty is the ultimate cruel and inhuman punishment. It violates the right to life and should be abolished," Halya Gowan, Europe and Central Asia Program Director, was quoted in the report as saying.

Andrei Zhuk and Vasily Yuzepchuk were both sentenced to death in 2009 for separate crimes but had been sharing a death row cell in the capital Minsk. Zhuk"s mother told Amnesty International on Monday she was informed by prison staff that both men had been shot.

Yuzepchuk was sentenced to death on 29 June 2009, for the murder of six elderly women. His lawyer argued investigations were fundamentally flawed and

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