Belarusian President Oleksandr Lukashenko on Tuesday decided to pardon Rico Krieger, a German citizen sentenced to death on charges of terrorism and mercenary. This is reported to AFP.
“President Oleksandr Lukashenko decided to pardon the German citizen Rico Krieger in view of the circumstances,” the press service of the head of state said in a statement.
In Berlin, a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry confirmed the pardon, noting that it was a “relief.”
Last week, Belarusian state television showed 30-year-old Krieger expressing hope for a pardon from President Lukashenko: “I really hope that President Lukashenko will forgive and pardon me,” he said in a statement quoted by the Russian news agency TASS.
Krieger was convicted under six articles of the Criminal Code of Belarus at a closed court session at the end of June, the human rights center “Vyasna” reports.
On Tuesday, Lukashenko met with the investigator and Krieger’s lawyer to discuss the possible application of the death penalty, the press service of the president reports.
Krieger told Belarusian television that in October 2023, Ukraine asked him to photograph military facilities in Belarus and he confessed to planting an explosive device on a railway line near Minsk. “I deeply regret what I did and I’m relieved there were no victims,” he said during televised testimony, during which he wept.
The leader of the Belarusian opposition, Svitlana Tikhanovskaya, who lives in exile, also expressed relief at the pardon. “Every life is priceless and we must use all tools to protect it. But we must also fight for all hostages of the regime. More than 1,300 political prisoners are still being held in Belarus,” she wrote on the X social network.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Rico Krieger worked as a medical assistant for the German Red Cross and previously served as an armed security officer at the US Embassy in Berlin.
German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Kathryn Deschauer said on Friday: “We have provided consular services to the detainee and are very concerned about his case.”
According to Amnesty International, Belarus has executed up to 400 people since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, but executions of foreign nationals are rare.
