The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area which there were country entries in the 2009 edition.9 Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia, the Russian Federation and the United States of America responded to the questionnaire, while no reply was received from Tajikistan. The OSCE Centre in Astana and the OSCE Office in Dushanbe did, however, contribute valuable information. Other information was collected from media reports and reports by NGOs. As in previous years, it is hoped that the reader will find this background paper to be a useful resource in the further discussion of issues related to the right to life, the application of capital punishment and its abolition. 9  The six participating States that retained the death penalty in some way in 2009 were Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan and the United States of America. The questionnaire is reproduced in Annex 4. “The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area – Background Paper 2009”, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, 29 September 2009, <http://www.osce.org/odihr/item_11_33276.html>. ix