Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in such a manner is known as a death sentence, and the act of carrying out the sentence is known as an execution. A prisoner who has been sentenced to death and awaits execution is condemned and is commonly referred to as being "on death row". Etymologically, the term capital refers to execution by beheading, but executions are carried out by many methods, including hanging, shooting, lethal injection, stoning, electrocution, and gassing.
The European Convention on Human Rights is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953. All Council of Europe member states are party to the convention and new members are expected to ratify the convention at the earliest opportunity.
Capital punishment in Sweden was last used in 1910, though it remained a legal sentence for at least some crimes until 1973. It is now outlawed by the Swedish Constitution, which states that capital punishment, corporal punishment, and torture are strictly prohibited. At the time of the abolition of the death penalty in Sweden, the legal method of execution was beheading. It was one of the last states in Europe to abolish the death penalty.
Capital punishment for murder was abolished in Cyprus on 15 December 1983. It was abolished for all crimes on 19 April 2002. The death penalty was replaced with life imprisonment. Cyprus is a signatory to the second optional protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which provides for full abolition of capital punishment. Cyprus initially had a reservation on the second protocol, allowing execution for grave crimes in times of war, but subsequently withdrew this reservation. The Constitution of Cyprus was amended in 2016 to eliminate all forms of capital punishment.
Capital punishment in Armenia was a method of punishment that was implemented within Armenia's Criminal Code and Constitution until its eventual relinquishment in the 2003 modifications made to the Constitution. Capital punishment's origin in Armenia is unknown, yet it remained present in the Armenia Criminal Code of 1961, which was enforced and applied until 1999. Capital punishment was incorporated into Armenian legislation and effectuated for capital crimes, which were crimes that were classified to be punishable by death, including treason, espionage, first-degree murder, acts of terrorism and grave military crimes.
Capital punishment in Austria was abolished in 1787, although restored in 1795. Unlike other countries with a minimum age of 18, the Habsburg Law enacted in 1919 set the minimum age for execution in Austria at 20.
Capital punishment in Azerbaijan was abolished in 1998. The last execution took place in Azerbaijan in 1993 by method of single shot. Protocol No. 6 to the ECHR came into force in this country on 25 January 2001 and the death penalty was replaced with life imprisonment.
From 1935 to Estonia's incorporation into the Soviet Union in 1940, inmates condemned by civilian courts were given a choice to die either by poison-induced suicide or by hanging, as outlined in the Criminal Procedure Code : "One hour before the scheduled time of the execution, the condemned shall be taken to a death cell, where the state prosecutor will read the death sentence and ask the prisoner whether he is willing to commit suicide. If the answer is in the affirmative, the prosecutor will hand the condemned a glass of poison—the kind of poison to be determined by the National Health Board. If the doomed man fails to take the poison within five minutes he will be hanged.'" Military executions were carried out by a firing squad.
Capital punishment in modern Greece was carried out using the guillotine or by firing squad. It was last applied in 1972 during the military junta. The death penalty was abolished in stages between 1975 and 2005.
Capital punishment was completely abolished in Hungary on 24 October 1990 by the Constitutional Court. A month later on 1 December 1990, Protocol 6 to the ECHR came into force. Hungary later adopted the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR as well. The last condemned man to be executed, Ernő Vadász, was hanged for the crime of murder on 14 July 1988. In April 2015, following the murder of a woman in southern Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán suggested that Hungary must reinstate capital punishment. This statement caused a strong reaction from EU officials, and Orbán had to retract as a result. The European Union holds a strong opposition against the death penalty in its relation to the Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy.
Capital punishment was abolished in Slovenia in 1989, when it was still a Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. When Slovenia became independent and introduced its democratic constitution on 23 December 1991, capital punishment became unconstitutional. On 1 July 1994, Protocol No. 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights came into force. Later Slovenia also adopted the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Capital punishment in Latvia was abolished for ordinary crimes in 1999 and for crimes committed during wartime in 2012. Latvia is party to several international instruments which ban capital punishment.
Capital punishment in Turkmenistan was originally allowed under Article 20 of the 1992 Constitution, where it was described as "an exceptional punishment for the heaviest of crimes". In December 1999, a presidential decree abolished capital punishment "forever".
Capital punishment is no longer applied in San Marino: the last execution was carried out in 1468 or in 1667, by hanging.
Havzi Nela was an Albanian dissident poet, born in the village of Kollovoz in the district of Kukës. He managed to finish both elementary and high school while living in extreme poverty. In high school he began to express objections against what he perceived as "injustices" that, according to him, were created by the communist regime. After this, he began studies at the Higher Pedagogical Institute of Shkodra, but was expelled due to seemingly rebellious and controversial beliefs. After much difficulty, he found a job as an elementary school teacher at Plani i Bardhe, a small village in the district of Mat, but was forced to leave the village due to suspicious activity. Suspicion arose after students began reading his poetry. He then went on to study at the Higher Pedagogical Institute of Shkodra by correspondence. He worked as a teacher in different villages such as Krumë, Lojmë and Shishtavec until 1967, when he moved to Topojan.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Liberia. However, Liberia is classified as a state that is "abolitionist in practice." Liberia last executed in 2000.
Capital punishment was abolished in Burundi on 24 April 2009. Burundi is not a state party to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The last legal execution in Burundi took place in 1997.
Capital punishment was abolished in Djibouti in 1995. There have been no executions in Djibouti since independence from France on 27 June 1977. The country acceded to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on 5 November 2002.
Capital punishment was abolished in Guinea. The civilian death penalty was abolished in 2016. It was abolished under military law in 2017. Guinea carried out its last execution in 2001. Prior to its abolition for ordinary crimes in 2016, Guinea was classified as retentionist.
Capital punishment was abolished in Guinea-Bissau in 1993. The country carried out its last execution in 1986. In February 1993, the National People's Assembly (Guinea-Bissau) passed an amendment to the constitution which abolished the death penalty for aggravated murder and treason.
