death_penalty_new.qxd 02-08-27 12:57 Page 38 THE DEATH PENALTY IN THE OSCE AREA INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS Juvenile Offenders: Persons who were below the age of 18 at the time when the crime was committed cannot be sentenced to death126. Pregnant women: Women cannot be sentenced to death127. Pardon/Clemency: The death penalty can be replaced with life imprisonment or 25 years imprisonment in a high security prison128. The Pardon Commission under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan has the right to satisfy appeals for pardon129. The President approves each decision of the Pardon Commission and issues a Pardon Decree130. The Pardon Commission has been criticized due to the perceived over-representation of state officials and under-representation of independent experts within the Commission131. In the past, only very few acts of clemency have been made132. In 2000 there were four and in 2001 there were two acts of clemency133. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS There are concerns that international fair trial standards are not complied with in all cases in which the death penalty is pronounced134. The death penalty cannot be executed until one year after the sentence is passed135. 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 Article 49(2) of the Criminal Code. Article 49(2) of the Criminal Code. This article also stipulates that the death penalty cannot be applied to men who are over the age of 65 at the time the sentence is pronounced. Article 49(4) of the Criminal Code. The Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan under the cassation procedure is also vested with a power to substitute the death penalty with deprivation of liberty. This power was exercised in relation to seven persons in 2000 and nine persons in 2000. In addition, the Supreme Court has the right to revoke the death sentence and order a retrial. Three sentences were revoked in 2000 and seven in 2001. This information was received from the General Prosecutor’s Office via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Article 44 of the Decree of the President # 2975 ‘On Provisions for Pardoning Procedure by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan’, 7 May 1996. On the basis of the Decree of the President ‘On Composition of the Pardon Commission’, 13 September 1996, the Pardon Commission is comprised of parliamentarians, representatives of the Presidential Administration, Presidential Human Rights Commission, former law enforcement officers, Chairperson of the National Commission on Family and Women Affairs and academics. The General Prosecutor and the Minister of Justice are also members of the Commission. Between 1997 and 2000, 27 acts of clemency were made. ‘Moratorium and the abolition of the death penalty’, Kuanshy Baltabaev, Member of the Constitutional Council, 2002. ‘Capital punishment has its alternative’, Interview with Vladimir Rot, Deputy Head of the Department in the General Prosecutor’s Office, Astana, Kazakhstanskaya Pravda # 107, 14 May 2002. Concluding Observations of the Committee Against Torture, 17/05/2001.CAT/C/XXVI/Concl.7/Rev.1. See also, ‘Courts without Corruption: July 2000-August 2001’, Public Fund ‘Transparency Kazakhstan’, Almaty, 2001. Article 49(3) of the Criminal Code. 38