Belarus has introduced the death penalty for attempts to carry out acts of terrorism, Russian news agencies reported Wednesday, putting several opposition activists' lives on the line.
"Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed a law on the possibility of the death penalty for an attempted terrorist act," the RIA Novosti news agency reported, adding that the law will come into force 10 days after its publication.
Ex-Soviet Belarus already had the death penalty for acts of terrorism that cause loss of life, for brutal murders and multiple murders.
Belarus' parliament backed expanding the death penalty's use after activists on April tried to sabotage parts of the railway network to make it harder for Russia to deploy forces into Ukraine for its invasion. The Belarusian lower house of parliament had approved the change to the criminal code in two readings.
Russia used Belarus, a close ally, as a staging ground to launch its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. Minsk denies involvement in the conflict but acknowledges that its territory was used for the invasion.
Russian news agencies Interfax and RIA Novosti said that a document on a Belarusian national legal portal showed Lukashenko had signed the amendments allowing the death penalty for attempted acts of terrorism.
A crackdown on mass anti-government protests in Belarus in 2020 has sometimes seen people charged with terrorism for crimes that might earlier have been considered hooliganism. One person was charged with terrorism for pouring red paint over the car of a judge and another for throwing a rock at the window of a prosecutor.
