Death_Penalty_2005_nowy.qxd 2005-09-08 17:00 Page 33 TAJIKISTAN tion against torture and other ill-treatment, and the right of persons in detention to be treated with humanity and dignity. In April 2005, the UN Human Rights Committee stated that “a number of persons sentenced to death were executed in spite of the fact that they had petitioned the Committee under the Optional Protocol, and that the Committee had issued a request … not to carry out their executions, pending consideration of their cases by the Committee”.104 Pardon or commutation The Constitution gives the president authority to grant clemency.105 Death sentences may be commuted to 25 years’ imprisonment.106 The cases of all individuals sentenced to death are automatically considered by the Clemency Commission regardless of whether the person sentenced to death has submitted an appeal for clemency.107 Sentences are not executed until a decision on clemency has been issued. According to official statistics, the president pardoned 23 people who had been sentenced to death in the period from 1999 through 2004.108 Relatives Relatives are not informed in advance of the date of execution. The body is not returned, and the place of execution and the place of burial are not disclosed.109 The Criminal Executive Code provides that the court that passed the death sentence should inform the relatives of the fact that the execution has taken place; however, it does not indicate the time frame after execution within which this information should be made available to the relatives. 104 105 106 107 108 109 List of issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration of the initial report of Tajikistan, CCPR/C/84/L/TJK, 29 April 2005. Article 69 (27) of the Constitution. Article 216 of the Criminal Executive Code provides that individuals sentenced to death can apply to the president for clemency. Article 59 of the Criminal Code. The Commission was established by Presidential Decree No. 721, 8 May 1997. Initial report of Tajikistan submitted under Article 40 of the ICCPR, CCPR/C/TJK/2004/1, 11 April 2005. Article 221, Criminal Executive Code. Information of this nature is treated as a state secret. Article 9 (22), Law “On the enumeration of information constituting a state secret”, 10 May 2002. 33