In violation of paragraph 17.8 of the Copenhagen Document, Uzbek authorities do not disclose information on the use of the death penalty. According to unofficial information, at least 10 persons were sentenced to death in 1998. Other death sentences were believed to have been passed and carried out. At least one death sentence was handed down during trials against alleged “Wahhabi” Islamic extremists accused of being responsible for murders in the Fergana Valley in 199795. During 1999 at least 29 men were sentenced to death96, 17 of whom were found guilty of having organized bombings in the capital, Tashkent, on 16 February 1999, which resulted in the death of 16 people. Only the first of the three trials that were held in connection with the bombings was open to the public. All six men sentenced to death after this first trial in June 1999, which according to international observers failed to be in line with international standards, had been executed by January 200097. In July 2000 the general procuracy confirmed that 19 death sentences handed down in 1999 for involvement in the Tashkent bombings had been carried out. Information on the status of the remaining death sentences is not available. There are numerous reports of torture in detention, extractions of confessions under duress, and other serious irregularities in connection with trials that have resulted in death sentences98. Amnesty International has information on 13 death sentences passed and eight executions carried out during the year 2000. However, the actual number is believed to be much higher99. On 31 March 2001, the Presidium of the Supreme Court commuted two death sentences, passed in November 1999 on Arsen Arutyunyan and Danis Sirazhev, to 15 years imprisonment. 4.19 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia abolished the death penalty in 1992, following an amendment of the Constitution. The Federal Criminal Code was amended accordingly, replacing capital punishment with a penalty of 20 years of imprisonment. However, the death penalty still exists in the two republics of Serbia and Montenegro and it can be applied for aggravated murder. A draft law envisaging the abolition of death penalty was proposed by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia, and submitted to the Republican Government on 16 May 2001. The draft has undergone several changes, and has not been submitted to the Serbian Republican Parliament yet100. On 22 June 2001, the Yugoslav Federal Parliament ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights101. At least three men were sentenced to death during 2000. No executions have been carried out since 1992, but more than 20 people remained in jail under sentence of death102. 20