death_penalty_new.qxd 02-08-27 12:57 Page 17 ALBANIA 4.1 ALBANIA30 RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS Relevant International Instruments Signed Ratified Article 6 of the ICCPR Yes Yes Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR No No Article 37(a) of the CRC Yes Yes Protocol No.6 to the ECHR Yes Yes Protocol No.13 to the ECHR No No LEGAL FRAMEWORK Status: Partly abolitionist Scope: The death penalty has been abolished for all crimes committed in peacetime. In 1999 the Constitutional Court held that the death penalty in peacetime is “irreconcilable with the Constitution of the Republic of Albania”31. The death sentences of the ten persons on death row were all commuted to life sentences and the Criminal Code was amended accordingly. The death penalty is retained for certain crimes committed in wartime or imminent threat of war. The Military Penal Code envisages the death penalty for seven crimes. These are surrender to enemy forces resulting in severe consequences, releasing state secrets, collaborating with the enemy, defection of senior military personnel, non-observance of orders, forcing others to violate orders and murder32. 30 31 32 This entry was written with the assistance of the OSCE Presence in Albania and the Delegation of the Republic of Albania to the OSCE who completed our questionnaire on the death penalty. Decision Number 65 of the Constitutional Court, 10 December 1999. Articles 25, 26, 28, 34, 47, 50 and 77 of the Military Penal Code, Law No. 8003, 1955. Amended by Law No. 8991, 4 July 2002. 17