Kyrgyzstan Considers Total Abolition of Death Penalty

Public pressure could well speed up the abolition of capital punishment in Kyrgyzstan. The main obstacle, say NBCentralAsia analysts, is what to do with the convicts who then have to serve life sentences.



As part of an international campaign in 30 world capitals, the Kyrgyz are holding an event called “Bishkek for Life and Against Capital Punishment” on November 30.



NBCentralAsia commentators predict that the death penalty will be soon abolished altogether.



Member of parliament Kubatbek Baibolov argues that the moratorium that has been in place since 1998 must logically lead to total abolition. “We cannot extend the moratorium by issuing decrees year after year and keeping people in suspense,” said Baibolov.



Despite the moratorium, people are still being sentenced to death.



Baibolov thinks it is wrong to carry out executions when the judicial system is less than perfect and its decisions are subject to error, and he proposes that capital punishment be replaced by life imprisonment.



“It is no secret that it is possible to jail an innocent person, or convict a petty criminal in place of a major one,” he said. “As long as we have a judicial system as corrupt as it is now, we have no right to deprive these people of their lives.”



Nina Zotova, a lawyer of the human rights centre Citizens against Corruption, said a study of death penalty cases had uncovered procedural violations that indicated it would be wrong to carry out executions.



She said that if abolition goes ahead, it is unlikely the authorities could afford to build a separate prison camp for those who have had death sentences commuted, so it would probably release some minor offenders on probation to free up space.



Valentin Bogatyrev, vice president of the Vostok think tank, expressed concern at the provision that would be made for former death-row inmates. “Kyrgyzstan is a poor country,” Bogatyrev says. “The prisons are overcrowded and there is no separate jail for them [those sentenced to death], so if they get life sentences, it will be difficult to look after them.”



NBCentralAsia analysts say another reason why an end to capital punishment is in sight is that the new Kyrgyz constitution does not make provision for execution as a punishment, an omission that many have read as de facto abolition.



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