death_penalty_new.qxd 02-08-27 12:57 Page 59 UZBEKISTAN STATISTICS Number of death sentences passed: No official statistics were made available. Number of executions: No official statistics were made available. However, President Karimov has been quoted as saying that approximately 100 people are executed each year238. In its Concluding Observations on the second periodical report submitted by Uzbekistan, the UN Human Rights Committee deplored Uzbekistan’s refusal to reveal the number of persons who have been executed or condemned to death and the grounds for their conviction. It urged Uzbekistan to provide such information as soon as possible239. INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS Juvenile Offenders: Persons who were below the age of 18 at the time when the crime was committed cannot be sentenced to death240. Pregnant women: Women cannot be sentenced to death241. Pardon/clemency: The right to ask for pardon is stipulated in the Criminal Penalty Code242. The death penalty can be substituted by 25 years imprisonment. The clemency procedure is set out in a separate by-law that states that only the President can pardon convicted criminals243. All appeals are submitted to the Commission on Clemency under the Presidential Office. The are no official statistics on acts of clemency. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS There are concerns that international standards of fair trial are not complied with in all cases that result in the death sentence. 238 239 240 241 242 243 Mothers against the death penalty, AI EUR 62/009/2002, Amnesty International, London. Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee, Uzbekistan, Paragraphs 6 and 7, 26 April 2001. CCPR/CO/71/UZB. Article 51(2) of the Criminal Code. Article 51(2) of the Criminal Code. In addition, this article also stipulates that the death penalty cannot be applied to men who are over the age of 60 at the time when the sentence is pronounced. Article 138 of the Criminal Penalty Code. Procedure of Clemency in the Republic of Uzbekistan, 11 September 1997. This principle can also be found in Article 93(20) of the Constitution. 59