Belarus leader faces 'hardest' decision on death sentence

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday he faced a hard decision over whether to pardon two men who have been sentenced to death for a deadly bomb attack in April at a metro station in the capital Minsk.

"I will have to take a decision on this soon. I have to sign a decree and confirm the decision of the court or, if there are appeals for pardon, I must look at these documents too," the state news agency BelTA quoted him as saying.

"This is the hardest thing to do in the job of president," said Lukashenko, on a trip in Belarus away from the capital.

Factory workers Dmitry Konovalov and Vladislav Kovalyov, both 25, were condemned to death on Wednesday for carrying out the attack at the "October" metro station which killed a total of 15 people and wounded scores.

Rights organisations urged authorities in the ex-Soviet republic -- the only country in Europe to retain capital punishment -- not to impose the death sentence, arguing the two-month trial had not met international standards.

Only a pardon by Lukashenko can save the pair from execution -- carried out by shooting in Belarus -- since the judgment was delivered by the Supreme Court and so cannot be appealed.

Rights organisations say about 400 people have been executed in Belarus in the 20 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, including two convicted murderers last year.

In the past 16 years, Lukashenko has pardoned only one person condemned to death.