death_penalty_new.qxd 02-08-27 12:57 Page 23 AZERBAIJAN “launch a capital punishment for times of war or threat of war for grave crimes by adopting a special law”56. To date, no such law has been adopted57. NAGORNO-KARABAKH58 LEGAL FRAMEWORK Status: De facto abolitionist Scope: The death penalty is a legal punishment for crimes committed in peacetime and in wartime. The de facto Criminal Code of Nagorno-Karabakh is the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia 1961. It provides for the death penalty as an exceptional punishment, until its full abolition, for certain crimes. The death penalty is envisaged for 23 crimes. These are treason, espionage, terrorist acts, terrorist act against a representative of a foreign state, subversion, banditry, actions undermining order in penitentiaries, desertion from the army in times of war, counterfeiting money or securities, premeditated murder in aggravating circumstances, rape of a female infant and bribery59. The remaining 11 crimes which envisage the death penalty are military crimes60. Moratorium of execution: There has been a de facto moratorium on executions in place since 1997. 56 57 58 59 60 Article 2 of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Acceding to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Concerning the Second Optional Protocol on the Abolishment of Capital Punishment, ‘Azerbaijan’ Newspaper No.1 (2114), 3 January, 1999. The wording used in the national law was also the original text of the reservation that Azerbaijan entered. However, this was changed on 28 September 2000 as a number of other contracting parties objected to the reservation as it was not limited to military crimes of a serious nature committed in wartime. Article 28 of the Law on the State of Emergency, 2 April 1999 provides for certain procedural aspects of the execution of the death penalty during a state of emergency. However, as there are no substantive provisions regulating the use of the death penalty, this article is obsolete. This entry was written based on information provided by the de facto Nagorno-Karabakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs in co-operation with the legal department of the de facto Nagorno-Karabakh Presidential Administration of the internationally unrecognized separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Articles 56, 60, 61, 62, 63, 72, 72(2), 76(2), 82(2), 99, 112(4) and 185(3) of the de facto Criminal Code. Articles 246(c), 248(c), 250(b), 257(b), 259(g), 263(f), 269, 270(b), 271, 272 and 274 of the de facto Criminal Code. 23