Contents Introduction 5 1. Overview 5 2. Introductory Essay: The shrinking foothold of the death penalty in international law 6 The Situation of the Death Penalty in the OSCE Area 13 1. Arguments used to retain or eventually reintroduce the death penalty 13 2. Other aspects of the situation of the death penalty in the OSCE area 2.1 Retentionist participating States 21 21 2.1.1 United States 22 2.1.2 Belarus 34 2.2 Abolitionist participating States 43 2.2.1 New developments at the international and regional levels on the abolition of the death penalty 44 2.2.2 Participating States’ engagement in national or international activities relevant to the issue of the death penalty 48 2.2.3 Concerns around reintroduction of the use of the death penalty or the extension of its scope 51 2.3 De-facto abolitionist participating States 53 2.3.1 Abolitionist for ordinary crimes only 55 4