MINSK. Nov 30 (Interfax) - A Belarusian court on Wednesday has imposed the death penalty on two men charged with a terrorist attack in the Minsk underground system, an Interfax correspondent reported from the courtroom.
"The court grew increasingly convinced that Dmitry Konovalov [the perpetrator of the attack] and Vladislav Kovalev [his accomplice] pose an exceptional danger to society and an exceptional penalty should be applied to them," presiding judge Alexander Fyodortsov said.
In imposing the penalty on Konovalov, the court took into account the systematic nature of the crimes he committed and repeated acts of terrorism of a cynical nature, which resulted in injuries to people, the judge said. Konovalov sought to cause more deaths and injuries, the judge said. In particular, during the search of his house police found information on how to create more powerful explosive devices.
In issuing the verdict for Kovalyov, the court took into account the long period of time over which crimes were committed, Fyodortsov added. Kovalev, being aware of Konovalov's interest in explosions, provided him with TNT, thus helping Konovalov to make more powerful bombs, the judge said.
Moreover, Kovalev tried to assist Konovalov in avoiding fingerprinting procedures, thus enabling him to commit further crimes, the judge said. Kovalev's abetting in the 2011 terrorist attack was deliberate, Fyodortsov added.
"It has been proved that preparations for the underground terrorist attack were made in a state of alcohol intoxication, which is an aggravating factor," the judge said.
The verdict is final and cannot be appealed.
On April 11, 2011, a powerful improvised explosive device went off at the Oktyabrskaya underground station in Minsk. Eleven people died at the scene, four others died later in hospital. In all, more than 300 people were injured.
The following day Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced that the case had been resolved. Two Belarusian men, Konovalov and Kovalev, were charged with terrorism.