Minsk and Berlin discussing fate of German man sentenced to death in Belarus – Belarusian Foreign Ministry
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry says it is in contact with the German Federal Foreign Office regarding 30-year-old German citizen Rico Krieger, who has been sentenced to death in Belarus.
Source: Anatoly Glaz, spokesperson for the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, told Belarusian regime-aligned news outlet BelTA on Saturday, 20 July, as reported by European Pravda
Details: Glaz stated that Belarus provided Germany with consular access to Krieger "in full compliance with international norms and bilateral agreements".
"Considering the German Foreign Ministry's request, the Belarusian side has proposed specific solutions for addressing the situation. Discussions between the foreign ministries of the two countries are ongoing," he added without elaborating.
Background:
- Earlier, it was reported that Krieger had been sentenced to death in Belarus for supposedly "illegal actions involving firearms", damage to transport or communication routes, creation of or participation in an "extremist" group, espionage, mercenarism and terrorism.
- The German citizen received the sentence on 21 June, an extremely rare occurrence in Belarus, where the death penalty still exists but is seldom applied to foreigners. No official Belarusian institution has yet commented on the verdict.
- Independent Belarusian media outlets have learned from unofficial sources that Krieger's case concerns his alleged involvement in the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment, a group of Belarusian opposition volunteers, which was formed to fight the Russians in Ukraine. The man was detained last year; before that, he was a medic with the German Red Cross.
- The regime of Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, is notorious for its repression of opposition and activists, which intensified significantly after the 2020 protests against the falsification of presidential election results.
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