Death Penalty Abolished in Kazakhstan | News from Germany on world events

The death penalty has been abolished in Kazakhstan. The upper house of the parliament of Kazakhstan – the Senate – on Thursday, December 23, adopted a law on introducing amendments to the legislation that exclude the death penalty from all articles of the country’s Criminal Code. Now this document has been sent for signature to the President.

“From the Criminal Code, Article 47” The death penalty “is completely excluded as an exceptional measure of punishment. The amendments exclude the sanctions that, in the current version of the Criminal Code, contain the death penalty, “the conclusion of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Legislation, Judicial System and Law Enforcement Agencies says.

The adoption of the relevant law became necessary after Kazakhstan in January ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aimed at abolishing the death penalty. “The complete abolition of the death penalty in the Republic of Kazakhstan will help harmonize national legislation with international legal obligations and ensure human rights and guarantees of the highest constitutional value – the right to life,” the Senate committee explained.

The current norm of the legislation of Kazakhstan

The current Criminal Code of Kazakhstan provides for the death penalty under 17 articles. Moreover, in all cases, the court has the opportunity to replace her with life imprisonment.

Currently, there is a moratorium on the death penalty in Kazakhstan. On December 17, 2003, the former President of the country, Nursultan Nazarbayev, announced the introduction of an indefinite moratorium on the execution of sentences to the death penalty pending a decision on its abolition. The Elbasy’s decree entered into force on January 1, 2004.

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