The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area EU initiatives undertaken either under the EU Guidelines on the Death Penalty, actively contributing to their implementation, or under the EU Task Force on Abolishing the Death Penalty, joining the European Union in systematically raising the issue and their opposition to the death penalty. Mention should also be made of Finland’s involvement in amending Council Regulation No 1236/2005, concerning trade in certain goods that could be used for capital punishment, and providing for the prohibition of any export of goods that have no practical use other than for the purpose of capital punishment or for the purpose of torture and other ill-treatment.147 Others, namely Iceland, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, noted their work towards the global abolition of capital punishment, through individual and group statements. For instance, the Holy See, San Marino and Slovenia made public statements, participated in several congresses on the question of the death penalty and sponsored several decisions and resolutions in different international forums. Greece stated in its reply that it had ratified the Statute of the International Criminal Court, imposing life imprisonment as the most severe measure applicable for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Following-up on the OSCE/ODIHR background paper on the situation of the death penalty in the OSCE region of 2015, Poland provided information on the developments of ECtHR’s case of Al Nashiri v. Poland. The 2014 ruling found Poland in violation of Articles 2, 3 and Article 1 of Protocol No. 6 to the Convention on account of the transfer of the applicant from Polish territory to the United States, despite the existence of a real risk that he could be subjected to the death penalty. Poland reported that after the judgement, in diplomatic communication with the United States dated October 2014, 6 March 2015, 13 May 2015 and 14 October 2015, it requested assurances by the United States Government that Mr Al Nashiri would not be subjected to the death penalty. In response to the diplomatic communication, the United States authorities confirmed that the Polish authorities’ request for diplomatic assurances cannot be supported. Subsequently, Poland declared its readiness to repeat its requests to the Government of the United States. Citizens facing the death penalty abroad (Question 3) According to the information received, 13 participating States reported having their national citizens sentenced to death in a foreign country. At least 16 individuals from Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain and Turkey are facing death sentences or trials in which the death sentence is a possible punishment. The individuals are held in Iran, Pakistan and the United States of America. Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany were unable to provide detailed information on the matter due to confidentiality legislation. A high number of participating States stated that they provide their nationals facing the death penalty with 147  Council of the European Union, Regulation (EC) No 1236/2005 (27 June 2005), Chapter II, Article 3, <http:// eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2005:200:0001:0019:EN:PDF>. 35