The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2021 In Latvia, it seems that various different, influential personalities across numerous government institutions contributed to the abolition process. In 1996, the Prosecutor General noted in an important speech that Latvia had not acceded to Protocol No. 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).31 At the same time, the European experience showed that the murder rate in a country does not depend on whether it uses capital punishment and that capital punishment should be applied only in exceptional cases.32 On 24 September 1996, speaking in Strasbourg, the Latvian President announced that until the adoption of a new criminal code in Latvia, he would pardon anyone sentenced to death.33 Highlighting concerns about ensuring the right to life, in 2011, the Ministry of Justice emphasised that it was essential to accede to Protocol No. 13 of the ECHR.34 The President of the Parliament’s Human Rights and Public Affairs Commission acknowledged that even during wartime, it is impossible to avoid mistakes, so even in such situations, the highest penalty should be life imprisonment without the right to pardon, and not the death penalty.35 In the case of Kazakhstan, progress towards abolition started on 17 December 2003, when the Head of State signed a moratorium as part of an initiative to humanise criminal law and bring it in line with international standards. After the implementation of the moratorium and the establishment of life imprisonment as the alternative, death penalty trials became virtually non-existent.36 Imposition of death sentences was discretionary, with Article 52 of the Criminal Code requiring that a severe form of punishment should only be imposed if a lesser form of punishment would not satisfy the purpose. In this assessment, courts were required to take into account the gravity of 31 “Despite having committed itself during its Council of Europe accession procedure on 31 January 1995 “to ratify ... Protocol No. 6 within a period which, by the terms of Assembly Resolution 1031 (1994), should not normally exceed one year from the time of accession” (Opinion No. 183 (1995), paragraph 10.b), Latvia had not signed or ratified the Protocol during this time. Latvia had in fact carried out two executions by shooting since its accession to the Council of Europe, on 26 January 1996. Eight death sentences were handed down in the years 1994–96, all of them for murder under aggravating circumstances, and, as of 25 June 1996, two prisoners were awaiting execution on death row.” Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Abolition of the death penalty in Europe, Doc. 7589, 25 June 1996. 32 Latvian Centre for Human Rights, Press Review, 19 December 1996. 33 Andris Runcis, Latvia Towards Europe: International Security Issues, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Riga 1999. 34 LV, Rosina Latvijā pilnībā atcelt nāves sodu, 30 March 2011. 35 LV, Rosina Latvijā pilnībā atcelt nāves sodu, 30 March 2011. 36 Penal Reform International, The abolition of the death penalty and its alternative sanction in Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, May 2013. 17