The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area TAJIKISTAN A moratorium on executions and the handing down of death sentences has been in place in Tajikistan since 15 July 2004. On 30 September 2009, at the annual OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, in Warsaw, the Tajik delegation stated the clear political will to fully abolish capital punishment in the future. This commitment was reinforced again in April 2010, when President Emomali Rahmon established a working group with the aim of analyzing the social and legal aspects of abolishing the death penalty in Tajikistan.34 The working group is headed by Djumahon Davlatov, State Advisor on Legal Policy in the Executive Office of the President, and consists of government ministers and deputy ministers, as well as the General Prosecutor and the Human Rights Ombudsman. The latter has actively advocated for the full abolition of the death penalty and has pushed it as one his priorities. Several NGOs have been supporting the government’s intentions in this area through the development of projects aimed at raising awareness of the issue and engaging in a dialogue on abolishing the death penalty and the general question of the right to life.35 4. Retentionist States BELARUS While the background paper for 2009 saw indications that Belarus was slowly moving towards the introduction of a moratorium on the application of the death penalty, in line with Council of Europe standards and requirements for membership,36 monitoring during the reporting period for the 2010 background paper turned up mixed messages on the subject. Only weeks after 23 June 2009, when the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted to restore Special Guest status to Belarus’ parliament, on the condition that the country declares a moratorium on the imposition of the death penalty, 37 two death sentences were handed down. The two executions were carried out in March 2010, after the creation, on 4 February, of the working group “on the issue of the 34  Response from the OSCE Office in Tajikistan to the ODIHR questionnaire on the death penalty, 2 August 2010. 35  Ibid. 36  “The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area – Background Paper 2009”, op. cit., note 9. 37  “Belarus: PACE ready to restore Special Guest status if a moratorium on death penalty is decreed”, Council of Europe website, 23 June 2009, <https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1463617&Site=DC&BackColorInternet=F5CA75 &BackColorIntranet=F5CA75&BackColorLogged=A9BACE&RefreshDocsCache=yes>. 7