Belarusan Orthodox Church claims to be against death penalty

Belarusan business-oriented weekly reports that the head of the Belarusan Orthodox Christians Filaret spoke out against the death penalty during a round table that recently took place.

Apart from the Orthodox Church, the representatives of the Roman Catholic Church, legislative and judiciary authorities, delegates from the Council of Europe, diplomats and human right activists participated in the event.

As the above mentioned newspaper reports his words "We, Christians, cannot legitimise capital punishment since this is the sin of murder (…) We, sinful people, are not to grant life to a person, neither we should decide about a person's existence."

The newspaper notes also that before the Orthodox Church remained "heard less" than the Catholic Church when it came to public discussions of death penalty in Belarus. In 2011, aftermath the death sentence of Uladzislau Kavaleu and Dmitri Kanavalau, the head of Belarusan Roman Catholics, Tadevusz Kandrusevich, appealed for a moratorium for the convicted for the explosion in the Minsk metro. The newspaper noted that the top cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church (to which Belarusan Orthodox Church belongs), patriarch Kirill spoke out  against capital punishment, other than in certain situations, for example against terrorists.

Belarus Digest