The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area opment since last’s year’s report was a gathering of several parliament committees8 in March 2011 for further discussions on the draft law.9 3. De Facto Abolitionist States KAZAKHSTAN In Kazakhstan, the death penalty is retained for acts of terrorism entailing loss of life and grave crimes committed in wartime, with people sentenced having the right to appeal for pardon.10 A presidential decree establishing an indefinite moratorium on the death penalty was issued in December 2003. On 28 March 2011, at a meeting on the implementation of the National Human Rights Plan of Action, the Head of the Presidential Commission for Human Rights in Astana, Tastemir Abishev, called on the government to abolish capital punishment, thus taking a further step towards the removal of the death penalty. The Commission also recommended the ratification by Kazakhstan of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.11 A regional conference entitled “Partial Abolition in Central Asia: How to Move the Process of Death Penalty Abolition Forward” was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan in Astana on 26 April 2011. The conference brought together representatives from governmental bodies and agencies, the non-governmental sector and academia from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as representatives from international organizations.12 8  These were the Public Affairs and Human Rights; Defence; Foreign Affairs; Legal Affairs; and Anti-corruption and Internal Affairs committees. 9  Lolita Lūse , “Latvia encouraged to abolish death penalty“, newspaper of the Parliament of Latvia, 30 March 2011, <http://lv.lv/?menu=doc&id=227920>. 10  Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, clause 2 article 15, as amended on 21 May 2007. 11  Kazakhstan Daily, “Kazakhstan might fully abolish the Death Penalty”, 28 March 2011, <http://www.kazakhstandaily.com/sobytia/sobytia-izbrannoe/v-kazaxstane-mogut-polnostyu-otkazatsya-ot-smertnoj-kazni/> (in Russian). 12  With Moratorium since 2003, Kazakhstan Mulls Abolishing Death Penalty”, Astana Calling: a bi-weekly online publication of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 26 April 2011, <http://portal.mfa.kz/ portal/page/portal/mfa/resources/Pictures/Astana%20Calling%20PDF%202011/Astana%20Calling%20042611.pdf> (in Russian). 4