Former Head of Belarusian Execution Squad Speaks Out

Colonel Oleg Alkaev headed the (SIZO)6 No.1 prison in Minsk from 1996 to 2001. In 2006, he wrote a book about his experiences and agreed to an interview with Amnesty International in 2008.

In the interview, he describes how Belarusian death row inmates were not told they were to be executed until minutes before their death, and their families were never told their relatives had been executed -- only that they had left the prison, and they would not be able to see them again.

Amnesty International, an NGO advocating human rights, has publicized the video as a part of their campaign against the death penalty. Belarus is the last country in Europe that practices the death penalty and, according to Belarusian information agency BelPAN, the country executed 278 prisoners from 1992 to 2010.