German citizen on Belarus death row, foreign ministry says
By Thomas Escritt
BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany’s foreign ministry said on Friday that a German national had been sentenced to death in Belarus, and that Berlin is in intensive contact with authorities in Minsk over his fate.
Belarus, a close ally of Russia, is the only country in Europe that still applies the death penalty.
The German ministry did not name its national but earlier on Friday, Belarusian human rights organisation Viasna said that a German national it named as Rico Krieger had been sentenced to death in Belarus on charges related to terrorism and mercenary activity, citing unnamed sources.
In a statement published on its website, Viasna said that Krieger had been in custody since November 2023 and was convicted on June 24.
The German ministry statement said: “The Foreign Office and the embassy in Minsk are giving the person in question consular support and are working intensively with Belarusian authorities on his behalf.”
Belarus’ justice ministry, which had not reported any such case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Belarus, governed by longtime President Alexander Lukashenko, has supported Russia in the conflict in neighbouring Ukraine, and the country is under extensive Western sanctions.
Rights group Viasna said the charges related to the Kalinouski Regiment, a group of anti-government Belarusian exiles fighting for Ukraine. The Kalinouski Regiment declined to comment.
A LinkedIn account in Krieger’s name showed him posing in front of a Ukrainian flag.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the details of the legal proceedings.
Viasna published its statement on the same day as Evan Gershkovich, a U.S. Wall Street Journal reporter, was jailed for 16 years by a Russian court, on espionage charges his employer and the White House have described as fake.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in February suggested that he was open to freeing Gershkovich in a swap for Vadim Krasikov, a Russian intelligence agent serving a prison sentence in Germany for killing a former Chechen independence fighter in Berlin in 2019.
It was not immediately clear if there was any link between the cases of Krieger and Gershkovich.
(Additional reporting by Reuters; writing by Felix Light; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
