Putin ‘wants Moscow terrorists to stand trial in Belarus so they can get the death penalty’

Talks are already underway between the 'competent authorities' of the two countries, according to Putin-loyalist MP Maria Butina.

Russia could allow a trial of the Crocus City Hall terrorist suspects to take place in neighbouring Belarus so they can face the death penalty.

Talks are already underway between the ‘competent authorities’ of the two countries, according to Putin-loyalist MP Maria Butina.

Belarus is the only European country where execution remains in active use – and two of the victims in the Crocus City Hall terror attack were Belarusian.

In Belarus, the condemned man – women cannot be executed – is blindfolded and forced to kneel before a shot is administered Stalin-style to the back of the head.

Vladimir Putin’s security council deputy Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president, has already said it was ‘necessary’ to ‘kill’ the suspects.

Russia may now abandon its moratorium, which has been in place since 1996, but it would be harder to apply the death penalty retrospectively.

Butina previously praised Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko’s support for Russia over the terrorist outrage.

She told Belarusian TV 1: ‘I am quite familiar with your legislation, including the death penalty, which is present. In this case…the murder of two or more persons, you have exactly the same right to try these people as the Russian Federation….

‘The competent authorities are already [working] on this matter [so the suspects could face the death penalty]…’

For reasons currently unknown, the overall number of victims in the Crocus City Hall – both dead and wounded – rose in the past 24 hours from 382 to 695 people, according to the Russian emergencies ministry in the Moscow region.

Medvedev said of the suspects: ‘They were caught. Well done to everyone who caught them… Should they be killed? Necessary. And it will be.

‘But it is much more important to kill everyone involved. Everyone, who paid, who sympathised, who helped. Kill them all.’

A wide range of crimes can be covered by the death sentence in Belarus.

For years there was secrecy over the exact method of executions under Putin-ally Lukashenko, who remains in power due to vote-rigging in the 2020 presidential election.

But former executioner Oleg Alkaev revealed: ‘The special group officers began bringing the convicts one by one through the underground passage. They were dressed in striped robes and wearing felt slippers.

‘Their hands were tied behind them. They were shaking either from cold or from fear, and their crazy eyes radiated such genuine horror that it was impossible to look at them.’

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