32 The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area one by one, the former republics of the Soviet Union, living under conditions of an ideologically based socialist system, having renounced the old beliefs, proclaimed themselves democratic, lawful, secular, social states whose principles are especially founded on bases other than those of the “people’s state”. Under the resulting conditions, the only way out was to use old legal regulations created during the previous phase of historical development, on the one hand, and to search for ways of creating new legal institutes and corresponding values under new conditions, on the other. It was no accident that all the criminal codes in force, in the redactions of 1960-1961, envisioned the death penalty for more than 30 crimes. In 1992, “taking into account the genuine threat to sovereign security and the state’s territorial integrity, ... brutal acts of violence, ... an outburst of crime…”, a number of amendments and additions were introduced into Tajikistan’s Criminal Code, a portion of which envisioned the application of the death penalty “in order to avert a national disaster ... [and] eliminate terrorist groups and organized gangs”.23 As a result, the number of crimes for which the death penalty could be applied increased to 47. The gradual stabilization of society and Tajikistan’s undertaking of numerous obligations under international law required serious consideration and an alternative approach to criminal-law institutions as a whole and the institution of the death penalty in particular. In 1998, the current Criminal Code, which is based on the constitutional standards of the Republic of Tajikistan and generally recognized principles and standards of international law, reduced to 15 the number of articles envisioning the death penalty. Nowadays, the death penalty is applied to individuals who have committed particularly serious crimes: murder, attempted murder, rape, terrorism, hijacking, and others, including gangsterism, robbery with assault, and trafficking in illegal drugs. In order to humanize criminal legislation further, at the initiative of Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov, the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan “On Amendments and Additions to the Criminal Code” was adopted, reducing to a minimum the number of crimes punishable by death. This law came into force on 1 August 2003, in accordance with which the death penalty could only be applied for five crimes: murder (Article 104), rape (Article 138), terrorism (Article 179), genocide (Article 398), and biocide (Article 399). This Law also established that, in future, the death penalty would not be applied to women. Nine months later, President Rahmonov declared a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, which undoubtedly signals a new milestone in the humane develop23 See the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan “On Measures Designed to Strengthen Criminal Liability for the Perpetration of Serious Crimes Against Citizens’ Life and Health, Property Rights, and Aimed at Undermining Tajikistan’s Economic and Political Foundations”, Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta Respubliki Tadzhikistan (Dushanbe, 1992), No. 24, pp. 76-78.