The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area 4. Capital punishment may be imposed only when the guilt of the person charged is based upon clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of the facts. 5. Capital punishment may only be carried out pursuant to a final judgement rendered by a competent court after legal process which gives all possible safeguards to ensure a fair trial, at least equal to those contained in article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, including the right of anyone suspected of or charged with a crime for which capital punishment may be imposed to adequate legal assistance at all stages of the proceedings. 6. Anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to appeal to a court of higher jurisdiction, and steps should be taken to ensure that such appeals shall become mandatory. 7. Anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to seek pardon, or commutation of sentence; pardon or commutation of sentence may be granted in all cases of capital punishment. 8. Capital punishment shall not be carried out pending any appeal or other recourse procedure or other proceeding relating to pardon or commutation of the sentence. 9. Where capital punishment occurs, it shall be carried out so as to inflict the minimum possible suffering. Moratorium on the use of the death penalty, UN General Assembly Resolution 62/149, 18 December 200777 The General Assembly, Guided by the purposes and principles contained in the Charter of the United Nations, Recalling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Recalling also the resolutions on the question of the death penalty adopted over the past decade by the Commission on Human Rights in all consecutive sessions, the last being its resolution 2005/59, in which the Commission called upon States that still 77  . Another resolution was adopted by the UN General Assembly one year later, on 18 December 2008, on the implementation of the 2007 General Assembly resolution 62/149, UN Doc. A/63/430/Add.2, draft res. I., 18 December 2008. 22