internationally unrecognized entities) retained capital punishment in their statute
books. Many of them, however, have ruled out the death penalty for peacetime
offences or have imposed official or unofficial moratoria on executions. Therefore,
the number of participating States actually carrying out the death penalty was very
low.
The countries where executions were confirmed to have taken place in the period
under review were Belarus, Kyrgyzstan1, the Russian Federation (Chechnya), and
the USA. Other participating States, namely Tajikistan, Turkmenistan2, and
Uzbekistan, are believed to have carried out the death penalty but no confirmed
information was available. Several governments, including the governments of
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, regard information
related to capital punishment as a state secret and refuse to disclose relevant
material - a practice that is in clear contradiction to paragraph 17.8 of the
Copenhagen Document.
1. INTRODUCTION
There has never been a formal consensus within the OSCE concerning the abolition
of capital punishment, and countries that apply the death penalty with stringent
procedural safeguards and due process of law do not violate OSCE commitments.
However, the worldwide trend toward abolition has also been reflected within the
borders of the OSCE area. At a global level the de jure or de facto abolitionist
countries by 1998 clearly outnumbered those retaining capital punishment, by 105
to 90. A similar and even clearer trend continued to be discernible within the
OSCE area. As of 31 December 1999, only 15 out of 54 fully participating States
retain capital punishment in their legal codes, as opposed to 22 in 1997. Between
January 1998 and December 1999, seven participating States abolished the death
penalty completely, three abolished it for ordinary crimes only, and two States
announced a moratorium on executions.
In accordance with paragraph 17.7 of the Copenhagen Document, in which the
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