Judges Ignore Death Penalty Ban

Even though a new constitution passed two months ago abolished capital punishment in Kyrgyzstan, judges are still handing down death sentences because of discrepancies that mean it still exists in the criminal code.



At a meeting with the Norwegian Helsinki Committee on March 3, Kyrgyz justice minister Marat Kayipov announced that courts must review the cases of death-row prisoners and order new sentences in light of constitutional changes abolishing capital punishment.



On December 30, Kyrgyzstan adopted a new constitution stating in article 14 that “no one in the Kyrgyz Republic can be deprived of life”, thus doing away with the state’s right to execute convicts.



The same day, President Kurmanbek Bakiev prolonged a moratorium on the death penalty, first introduced in 1998, with the aim of removing it from the criminal code altogether.



Despite the ban on executions, observers say death sentences are still being passed.



On Janurary 26 this year, Bishkek’s Lenin district court issued the death sentence to a defendant charged with murder, reports Lira Ismailova of the Citizens Against Corruption group.



“Since 2005, various courts have passed around 20 death sentences,” Ombudsman Tursunbay Bakir Uulu told NBCentralAsia. “The death penalty has been suspended in Kyrgyzstan, but there is no ban in [criminal] legislation.”



According to minister Kayipov, the continued practice of ordering the death penalty reflects a lack of competence among some judges.



“The fact that judges continue to sentence criminals to death demonstrates their ignorance,” he said. “It means they haven’t read the constitution.”



Aziza Abdurasulova, director of the human rights centre Kylym Shamy, says the criminal code should be brought into line with the constitution and an alternative to the death penalty such as life sentence should be clearly defined.



“As soon as the death penalty is removed from the criminal code, the future of those now sentenced to death will be affected,” said Abdurasulova. “So the question of what life imprisonment means needs to be addressed.”



Despite the justice minister’s call for a review of death-row cases, some NBCentralAsia observers point out that strictly speaking, this is not possible under current laws. Lawyer Nina Zotova explained that the right to appeal to a higher court was abolished in February 2003 for death penalty cases.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)