There is no provision with regard to the death penalty at state level as criminal legislation belongs to the competence of the two entities, the Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 21 June 2000, the parliament of the Republika Srpska (RS) adopted a new criminal code which no longer provides for the death penalty36. Previous to that, there was no official moratorium in place, but the Supreme Court of the RS had issued a decision whereby the death penalty was amended to 20 years of imprisonment to be consistent with the ECHR. Courts did not pass any death sentences during the period under review. In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the death penalty was abolished in November 1998 to conform with provisions included in the Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia- Herzegovina signed in December 1995, which ended the civil war in the country. Even before the abolition, no death sentences were imposed by Federation courts during the period under review, and no one was on death row after the Human Rights Chamber ordered commutation of two pending death sentences into life imprisonment37. This makes the whole of Bosnia-Herzegovina abolitionist for ordinary crimes only. 4.6 Georgia Georgia abolished the death penalty in 1997, and ratified Protocol No. 6 to the ECHR in April 2000. Capital punishment has remained, however, in the statute books of the two separatist, internationally unrecognized entities of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Abkhazia Under the Criminal Code of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic which is still in force in Abkhazia, the death penalty can be applied to a long list of peacetime and wartime offences, including economic crimes. A moratorium is in effect, and there is an ongoing, if very limited, discussion on diminishing the number of crimes carrying the death penalty. Fifteen people have been sentenced to death since Abkhazia declared its independence. No executions were reported as there seems to be a de facto moratorium in place38. South Ossetia In South Ossetia the Criminal Code of the neighbouring Russian Federation is in use. Thus, courts may pass death sentences for five crimes (aggravated murder, attempt on the life of a state or public leader, attempt on the life of persons implementing jurisprudence of preliminary investigation, attempt on the life of an official of a law enforcement agency, and genocide). There seems to be an unofficial moratorium on death sentences and executions in place, which apparently has been complied with during the years South Ossetia has not been under Georgian Government control. 12

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