Death_Penalty_2005_nowy.qxd 2005-09-08 17:00 Page 23 KYRGYZSTAN 3.4 KYRGYZSTAN RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS International Instruments Ratification Status59 ICCPR R Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR – CRC R Status: de facto abolitionist LEGAL FRAMEWORK The Constitution provides that the death penalty may be used only in exceptional cases.60 The death penalty is currently retained for three crimes: murder, rape of a female minor, and genocide.61 The National Human Rights Programme calls for the drafting of a law on the abolition of the death penalty by 2006. In accordance with a presidential decree on this matter, the relevant state bodies were instructed to draft legislation before 30 June 2005.62 Draft amendments to the Constitution of Kyrgyzstan proposing the abolition of the death penalty were approved by the Constitutional Council of Kyrgyzstan on 9 June 2005.63 59 60 61 62 63 R = ratified, S = signed, a dash (-) indicates that the participating State has neither signed nor ratified the relevant instrument. Article 18 of the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic, 5 May 1993. Articles 97(2), 129(4), and 373 of the Criminal Code, 1 October 1997. Presidential Decree No. 4 “On prolongation of the term of the moratorium on execution of the death penalty in the Kyrgyz Republic”, 10 January 2005. Should the proposed amendments to the Constitution of Kyrgyzstan be adopted, Article 18, Paragraph 4, of the new Constitution would read as follows: “The death penalty is prohibited in the Kyrgyz Republic.” 23