MOSCOW/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.
“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,” the ministry said in a statement.
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 webite, Viasna said that Krieger had been in custody since November 2023 and was convicted on June 24.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the details of the legal proceedings.
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, is a close ally of Russia in the conflict in neighbouring Ukraine, and the country is under extensive Western sanctions.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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