For the past years of its independence Uzbekistan has been carrying out cardinal reforms in many spheres including gradual enhancement in the legal and judicial field with the purpose of liberalizing penal system.

Liberalization of the legal and judicial system provides for the steady reduction of the scope of the death penalty and its replacement to life sentence or long prison term.

For the past years the number of crimes for the commitment of which death penalty can be imposed has been decreasing. It is consistent with the practice of many democratic and developed countries. In 1994 Uzbekistan?s criminal law contained 33 articles providing for the death penalty. Currently, following the implementation of a set of measures to liberalize the criminal law, there is a provision for the death penalty for the commission of only two crimes - terrorism and premeditated murder under aggravating circumstances. Yet the provisions of these articles do not exclude other alternatives to death penalty.

Under the current criminal law of the country the number of crimes punishable by the death penalty makes up less than 1 per cent of the overall number of criminally punishable acts.

Regardless of the seriousness of the crime committed, the law prohibits the imposition of this penalty on men over 60 years of age, women and minors.

In this context it is worth to note that for the last years the death penalty has not been imposed as a form of criminal punishment.

The State?s policies in the sphere of criminal and judicial practice concerning the imposition of the death penalty fully conform to world trends and consistently reflect the principles of humanism and justice.

The death penalty is imposed only when a crime is committed under aggravating circumstances and causes numerous human casualties.

On the basis of the established principles and rules of international law and the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which proclaim and guarantee the human right to life, as well as for the purpose of taking specific measures to further liberalize criminal penalties President of Uzbekistan issued decree on 1 August 2005 ?On the abolition of the death penalty in Uzbekistan?.

According to the decree the death penalty shall, as of 1 January 2008, be abolished as a form of punishment and be replaced by penalties in the form of a life sentence or a long prison term. It is fully consistent with provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights and also with the Article 24 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan which guarantees the right of every person to life.

It is important to note that the decision was made not about moratorium on death penalty, as it has been the case in a number of countries, but about full abolition of this punishment.

A wide range of measures are being taken at present in Uzbekistan for the implementation of the Presidential Decree on abolition of the death penalty, in particular:

1. Introducing necessary amendments and additions to the Criminal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Criminal Executive Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan in connection with the elimination of the death penalty from the criminal penal system and its replacement by either life sentences or long prison terms.

2. Conducting wide scale explanatory work among the citizens with the purpose of raising their awareness on necessity of further liberalizing the criminal penal system. According to the public-opinion survey results conducted annually by the Center of Public Opinion Studies more than 75 per cent of respondents favor maintaining the death penalty in the criminal punishment system.

3. Undertaking preparatory measures for the construction of the specialized institutions necessary for the detention of convicted offenders sentenced to life imprisonment or long prison terms, as well as the procedures for training of personnel to work in these penitentiary facilities.

Consequently abolition of the death penalty is associated with serious financial and technical issues addressing which requires certain time.

The Government of Uzbekistan is effectively cooperating with the UN Human Rights Committee, particularly in dealing, in a timely and appropriate manner, with communications of the Committee on suspension of execution of death penalty with regard to those sentenced to death and whose cases are under the Committee?s consideration.