German man sentenced to death in Belarus pardoned by Lukashenko

Rico Krieger, 30, had been found guilty on terrorism charges in case held behind closed doors

A German man sentenced to death in Belarus has been pardoned by the country's president, just a few days after news of the case became public. Rico Krieger, 30, was found guilty on terrorism charges in a case that was held behind closed doors and only became public last week.

Krieger, who formerly worked for the German Red Cross, was accused of placing explosives on a rail track in the country on the orders of Ukrainian intelligence. Nobody was killed or injured in the explosion that supposedly ensued. Earlier this week, Krieger appeared, handcuffed, in a staged television interview broadcast on Belarusian state media. Crying, he begged the German authorities to intervene in his case.