Minsk, Nov 30 (IANS) A court in Belarusian capital Minsk Wednesday sentenced two men to death for carrying out a bomb attack that killed 15 people and injured 200 in the Minsk metro.
Dmitry Konovalov was convicted of taking the bomb to the metro, while Vladislav Kovalyov was convicted of delivering the explosive device to an apartment rented by the two defendants and helping Konovalov detonate the device at the central metro station in April.
Delivering the verdict, the judge read out the names of those killed or injured in the subway bombing, Xinhua reported.
Prosecutors said the accused chose the central station in order ‘to kill as many people as possible’.
Konovalov was also convicted of a July 2008 bombing that injured 54 people, and another bombing in September 2005 that injured around 50 people.
When the trial began Sep 15, Konovalov initially admitted to carrying out the metro bombing, but then refused to make a statement or testify in his own defence.
Human rights activists have urged Belarus not to apply the death penalty in the case. Rights activists launched petition drives against the execution and collected 50,000 signatures.
Belarus is the only European country still with the death penalty. Sentences are carried out by a shot in the neck.
