death_penalty_new.qxd 02-08-27 12:57 Page 36 THE DEATH PENALTY IN THE OSCE AREA 4.9 KAZAKHSTAN114 RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS International Instruments Signed Ratified Article 6 of the ICCPR No No Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR No No Article 37 (a) of the CRC Yes Yes LEGAL FRAMEWORK Status: Retentionist Scope: The death penalty is a legal punishment for crimes committed in peacetime and in wartime115. The Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan states that the death penalty can be provided by law for premeditated and aggravated crimes116. The death penalty is envisaged for 18 crimes. These are aggravated murder, terrorism, assault on the life of a person who administers justice or conducts preliminary investigations, assault on the life of the President, high treason in wartime or during combat operations under aggravating circumstances, sabotage, conduct of aggressive war, application of weapons of mass destruction, genocide, mercenary participation in an armed conflict which results in death or other grave consequences, insubordination or disobeying an order, opposition to a superior or forcing him to violate his duties, violence against a superior, desertion, evasion from military service by mutilation or other means, violations of vigil duty rules, abuse of power, or exceeding one’s authority or administrative dereliction and abandonment or surrender of weapons to the enemy117. 114 115 116 117 This entry was written with the assistance of the OSCE Centre in Almaty, Kazakhstan, which received information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Delegation of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the OSCE did not respond directly to our questionnaire on the death penalty. Article 49(1) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 1 January 1998. Article 15 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan 30 August 1995. Articles 96(2), 233, 340, 167, 165, 171, 156(2), 159(2), 160, 162(4), 367(3), 368(3), 369(3), 373, 374(3), 375(3), 380(3) of the Criminal Code. 36