Watchdog

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has denounced the recent execution of a man in Belarus, the only country in Europe which still applies the death penalty.

Michael Georg Link, director of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, said in a May 8 statement that he was alarmed by the execution, which was reportedly carried out last month.

"The use of the death penalty is completely out of place in a region where most countries recognize the inherently cruel, inhuman, and degrading nature of a punishment that fails to act as a deterrent and makes any miscarriage of justice irreversible," Link said.

The European Union last week criticized the execution after it was reported by a Belarusian human rights group.

The group identified the executed man as Siarhei Vostrykau, a resident of the city of Homel who was found guilty of rapes and murders involving extreme brutality.

EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said in a May 6 statement that the 28-member block reaffirms "its strong opposition to capital punishment in all circumstances."

Belarus carried out four executions last year.

Before 2016, an execution had not been carried out under the Belarusian legal system since November 2014.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has met with the 82 Chibok schoolgirls freed from three years of captivity with Boko Haram Islamic extremists.

Photos tweeted by Buhari showed dozens of the girls at the president’s official residence on May 7, a day after his government secured their release in exchange for detained Boko Haram suspects.

Buhari, 74, then announced he was leaving the country for further medical checks in London.

Buhari spent about six weeks on medical leave earlier this year, although the exact nature of his illness has never been made public.

After the meeting with the schoolgirls, presidential adviser Femi Adesina said Buhari "promised that all that is needed to be done to reintegrate them into the society will be done."

Adesina said government officials will supervise their reentry into society.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which helped negotiate the girls' release in conjunction with the Swiss government, said they would be reunited with their families soon.

The Nigerian government did not give details about the exchange, but an official who spoke on condition of anonymity said five Boko Haram commanders were released in exchange for the girls.

The girls were among as many as 276 female students kidnapped by the Al-Qaeda-linked extremist group in April 2014 from a government secondary school in the town of Chibok in northern Nigeria's Borno State.

Fifty-seven of the girls managed to escape in the months that followed the mass abduction.

Another 21 girls were freed in October 2016 and by January 2017, several others managed to escape.

Chibok is primarily a Christian village, and the girls who were not Muslim were forced to convert to Islam.

The kidnapping victims -- some as young as 9 years old -- reportedly were forced into marriage with Boko Haram militants. Many were thought to have been taken to neighboring Chad and Cameroon.

Human rights advocates have said they fear some of the girls have been forced by Boko Haram to carry out suicide bombings.

Despite the latest release, 113 of the young girls are still missing.

Some parents of the kidnapped girls gathered in Abuja to celebrate the latest release, while many expressed fears over the fate of those still missing.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, AFP, and dpa