The mother of the convicted man, Kiryl Kazachok, told anti-death penalty campaigner Andrei Poluda she had only been informed of her son’s execution recently, even though he was apparently shot in October last year.

Amnesty International in January released an appeal to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to cease the use of the death penalty, citing Kazachok’s case.

Kazachok in a drunken state killed his son and daughter aged 17 and 9 to punish his wife for wanting a divorce. He then called police and threw himself off a balcony but survived.

He was sentenced to death in 2016 and refused to appeal against the ruling.

Belarus reportedly executes prisoners using a shot to the back of the head, but the practice is highly secret and there are no official statistics. Relatives are not immediately informed and the bodies are not released to families.

Rights campaigners say Belarus currently has five multiple murderers on death row, aged between 24 and 44. Last year, two were sentenced to death for six murders linked to a real estate scam.

The European Union in 2016 lifted sanctions against the ex-Soviet country for an improved human rights record, including the release of political prisoners.

The EU is opposed to capital punishment and abolishing the death penalty is a requirement for a country to join the bloc.