23/01/2018 (Agence Europe) – The spokesperson for the European External Action Service (EEAS) has again reiterated opposition to the death penalty, "a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment", at a time when on 20 January, the Minsk City Court sentenced Vyachaslaw Sukharka and Alyaksandr Zhylnikaw to death at their retrial. In December 2015, the two men had initially been sentenced to life imprisonment before an appeal by a prosecutor was upheld by the Supreme Court on 14 July 2017. "We expect the remaining death sentences in Belarus, which is the only country in Europe still applying capital punishment, to be commuted and a moratorium on the death penalty introduced as a first step towards its abolition", the EEAS spokesperson once again stated. (CG)