The man, who has only been identified as Viktor has been detained

A man is facing the death penalty by shooting after a baby was found beheaded, according to law enforcement sources in Belarus.

The man, who has only been identified as Viktor, was detained along with the eight-month-old girl’s mother Natalia Klob who cannot be executed in the ex-Soviet state.

Klob had been with Viktor when the child was beheaded with a kitchen knife at a house in Luninets.

Further reports suggest the baby had also been badly beaten before she was killed.

According to the Express: When Klob’s husband Leonid, 28, arrived home with the couple’s two sons “he saw his daughter lying in a pool of blood, her head severed.”

A neighbor said: “When Leonid came into the flat he saw a scene out of the horror movies.

“The ambulance doctor fainted when she came in.”

According to reports, the mother and her friend had been drinking.

Neighbors claim the young family were “happy” and had recently baptized the child in the Orthodox Church.

The man and the child’s mother now face a criminal case for the murder of a child with “particular cruelty.”

Under the law in the ex-Soviet state, the maximum punishment for this crime is death, while for women it is up to 25 years in jail.

Belarus is the only remaining country in Europe which continues to carry out the death penalty, with the national constitution prescribing this punishment for “grave crimes.”

It has been part of the country’s legal system since it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Before execution, all death row prisoners are transferred to the Minsk Detention Centre No. 1 in the Belarusian capital.

According to the book The Death Squad by Oleg Alkayev, the convict is transported to a secret location on the day of the execution where he is told by officials that all appeals have been rejected.

The person is then blindfolded and taken to a nearby room, where two officials force him to kneel in front of a bullet backstop.

The executioner then shoots the convict in the back of the head with a PB-9 pistol fitted with a suppressor.

Following the shooting, a death certificate is prepared, and the remains of the person are buried secretly, with their family informed of the execution.

But Belarus’ methods of capital punishment have been widely condemned by international organizations, including the United Nations.

The use of capital punishment is believed to be one factor keeping the country out of the Council of Europe – the international organization which aims to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in the continent.