Russian Federation until all citizens can be granted the right to jury trials - a process that could take years as jury trials are available only in very few of the Federation’s 89 republics, regions and territories54. According to official information, 67 persons were sentenced to death during the first six months of 1998. As of February 1999, about 900 prisoners were under sentence of death55. On 3 June 1999, however, President Yeltsin signed a decree commuting the death sentence of all convicts on death row into either life sentences or 25-year prison terms56. Chechnya Executions had been carried out in Chechnya before the beginning of the Russian Federation's military operation in late 1999, which has resulted in the removal of the separatist government. Under that government, the Supreme Shari’a Court imposed the death penalty for various offences, including murder, kidnapping, and drug-related crimes. At least one person was executed in 1998. According to the Chechen presidential press service, 11 persons were executed during the first six months of 1999 for drug trafficking alone57. The total number of executions is not known. 4.13 Tajikistan The new Criminal Code of Tajikistan, in force since 1 September 1998, reduces the number of crimes carrying a possible death sentence from 44 to 14, including murder, rape, terrorism, hijacking, drug trafficking and illegal cultivation of forbidden crops containing narcotic substances. Death sentences can be commuted to 25 years’ imprisonment. Pregnant women and persons below 18 years of age at the time of the crime are excluded from capital punishment58. In violation of paragraph 17.8 of the Copenhagen Document, no official information on the use of the death penalty is made available by the Tajik authorities. Furthermore, relatives of executed persons are informed with considerable delay about the date of execution. It is also normal practice not to inform relatives on whether a prisoner is still alive or already executed59. According to unofficial information, at least 24 persons were sentenced to death in 199860, and at least 15 in 1999. While the total number of executions is not known, there are credible reports of at least two persons being executed in late 1998 and early 1999. At least 38 people are believed to have been sentenced to death during 2000 and 24 persons have been sentenced to death in the first half of 200161. The number is expected to increase, as the Tajik authorities consider the death penalty as a deterrent against organized crime62. Abdulkhafiz Abdullayev, the brother of a former Prime Minister active in the political opposition, was sentenced to death together with five co-defendants for his alleged involvement in the attempt to assassinate President Rakhmonov in April 1997. According to international observers, several witnesses had been forced to incriminate Abdulkhafiz Abdullayev. He was reportedly executed by shooting in November 1998. 15