been notified by the authorities after arrest of their right to communicate with their consular representatives. In one case, the execution was carried out despite an order by the International Court of Justice that the execution be suspended. Meanwhile California has become the first US state to pass legislation requiring full compliance with the notification provisions of the Vienna Convention70. 4.18 Uzbekistan The death penalty remains in active use in Uzbekistan. Following a decision by the Uzbek parliament in August 1998 to reduce the scope of the death penalty and remove it as a punishment for five offences, the Criminal Code now contains eight crimes that are subject to capital punishment: aggravated murder, rape of a female aged under 14 years, waging aggressive war, genocide, terrorism involving death or serious injury, treason, organizing a criminal conspiracy and illegal sale of large quantities of narcotics. The death penalty may not be applied to women or persons under 18 years of age at the time of committing the crime71. In violation of paragraph 17.8 of the Copenhagen Document, Uzbek authorities do not disclose information on the use of the death penalty. According to unofficial information, at least 10 persons were sentenced to death in 1998. Other death sentences were believed to have been passed and carried out. At least one death sentence was handed down during trials against alleged "Wahhabi" Islamic extremists accused of being responsible for murders in the Fergana Valley in 199772. During 1999 at least 29 men were sentenced to death73, 17 of whom were found guilty of having organized bombings in the capital, Tashkent, on 16 February 1999, which resulted in the death of 16 people. Only the first of the three trials that were held in connection with the bombings was open to the public. All six men sentenced to death after this first trial in June 1999, which according to international observers failed to be in line with international standards, had been executed by January 200074. Information on the status of the remaining death sentences is not available. There are numerous reports of torture in detention, extractions of confessions under duress, and other serious irregularities in connection with trials that have resulted in death sentences75. Create PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API PDFCROWD