The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2021 Tajikistan has not carried out an execution since 2004. Article 18 of the Constitution states that, “No person may be deprived of life except by the verdict of a court for a very serious crime.”292 The Criminal Code considers such crimes to be: aggravated murder, terrorism-related offenses resulting in death and not resulting in death, rape not resulting in death, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.293 The following categories of individuals are considered non-eligible for the death penalty: women, persons with intellectual disabilities, the mentally ill and the elderly (understood as being over 63 at the time of the sentencing).294 In December 2020, both the Russian Federation and Tajikistan voted in favour of Resolution 75/183 of the UN General Assembly, expressing encouragement for States to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.295 The resolution also encourages States with a moratorium to maintain it and to share their experience in this regard, and it calls upon States that have not yet done so to consider acceding to or ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR. 3.1. Abolitionist for ordinary crimes only Kazakhstan was previously defined as abolitionist for ordinary crimes only. This is a United Nations designation that refers to countries whose laws retain the death penalty only for exceptional crimes, such as crimes in times of war or those committed against the state, such as treason, terrorism or armed insurrection. After a 17-year moratorium on executions, Kazakhstan formally abolished the death penalty on 2 January 2021, when President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev added his signature to a bill passed by the parliament and the senate in December 2020, in which it ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, after signing it on 23 September 2020. 296 The one remaining death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.297 However, the bill contains a reservation that provides for the application of the death penalty in time of war.298 The current Criminal Code of Kazakhstan also still provides for the death penalty for more than a dozen crimes, including for “high treason” and 292 Constitution of Tajikistan, UNESCO. 293 “Tajikistan”, Death Penalty Database. 294 Ibid. 295 Amnesty International Global Report, 2020, op. cit., note 152, p. 61. 296 Amnesty International, Kazakhstan takes important step towards abolishing death penalty, 24 September 2020 and Death Penalty Information Center, Kazakhstan Abolishes the Death Penalty, 2 January 2021. 297 DW, Kazakhstan Abolishes the Death Penalty, 2 January 2021. 298 “Amnesty International Global Report, 2020, op. cit., note 152, p. 34. 66