decision, with only a perfunctory appeal and clemency process61. Given the poor prison conditions in Turkmenistan, which have led to numerous deaths from untreated disease and overcrowding, international observers have questioned the meaningfulness of the recent move to abolish capital punishment. 4.16 Ukraine On 30 December 1999, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine decided that capital punishment is unconstitutional and thus de facto abolished the death penalty for all crimes. In its ruling, the Court referred to, inter alia, the provisions in the Constitution protecting the inherent human right to life and the freedom from torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment62. A de facto moratorium on executions had been introduced by President Leonid Kuchma in March 1997, but Ukrainian courts had continued to pass death sentences. Ukraine had committed itself to abolish capital punishment and to ratify Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights upon accession to the Council of Europe in 1995. The deadline for ratification set by the Council of Europe expired in November 1998. Subsequently, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe warned Ukraine that it would commence the procedure for the annulment of the credentials of the Ukrainian delegation if substantial progress concerning the abolition of the death penalty and some other fields were not made by 21 June 1998. On 24 June 1999, however, this deadline was extended to the next session of the Parliamentary Assembly in January 200063. According to the Chairman of the Supreme Court, 146 people were sentenced to death in 1998. Within the same time period, the Supreme Court cancelled three death sentences passed by regional and military courts, and commuted 13 to long term imprisonment64. As of 1 January 1999, 388 persons sentenced to death were being held in prison65. During the first six months of 1999, Ukrainian courts passed 35 death verdicts66. No executions were reported during 1998 and 1999. Create PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API PDFCROWD