4.7 Kazakhstan With the coming into force of the new Criminal Code of Kazakhstan on 1 January 1998, the scope of capital punishment was reduced from 18 to three peacetime crimes (premeditated and aggravated murder, genocide and sabotage). The death penalty also applies to treason in time of war as well as to eight military crimes. Women, persons who were minors at the time of the crime, and men who are over 65 when the sentence enters into force are excluded from capital punishment. The death penalty can be carried out not earlier than one year after the sentence in order to avoid judicial errors39. There is no moratorium on executions in place. It is planned to introduce life imprisonment as an alternative to capital punishment by 2003, but President Nazarbayev has reportedly stated that if international aid for the construction of suitable prisons were made available, this date could be brought forward40. In violation of paragraph 17.8 of the Copenhagen Document, Kazakhstan does not disclose official statistics on the use of the death penalty. At least 51 death sentences were handed down in 1998, of which five were commuted by the Amnesty Commission appointed by the President41. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, 63 persons were sentenced to death in 1999. Fifteen of these death sentences were subsequently commuted or annulled by the Supreme Court42. Sixty persons are believed to have been executed in 2000, 35 in the first half of 200143. 4.8 Kyrgyzstan The new Criminal Code of Kyrgyzstan which has been in force since 1 January 1998 allows the application of the death penalty in connection with five offences: terrorism, murder, aggravated crimes, rape, and state treason. A two-year moratorium on executions was introduced by a presidential decree signed on 5 December 199844. A presidential decree, dated 2 December 2000, extended the moratorium for one year45. According to the First Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan, 55 men were sentenced to death in 1998. Seven executions were carried out in 1998 before the moratorium came into force. In 1999, 20 death sentences were passed according to unofficial information. At the end of 2000, it was estimated that about 100 people were on death row in Kyrgyzstan46. Kyrgyz courts handed down at least six death sentences in the first half of 2001. There are serious concerns that the trials of four foreign nationals who were sentenced to death in early 2001 were in breach of Kyrgyzstan’s international commitments, including those within the OSCE47. 4.9 Latvia 13