Capital Punishment in Europe - Abolition

Abolition

Abolition has been common in European history, but has only been a real trend since the end of the Second World War when human rights became a particular priority. The European Convention on Human Rights was adopted in 1950 but some countries took many years to ratify it. The United Kingdom retained the death penalty for high treason until 1998 (William Joyce was the last person to be put to death for high treason in the UK, on 3 January 1946).

Latvia was the latest country to ratify (2011) protocol 13 in abolishing the penalty for all crimes. The legislation entered into force three months after the instrument of ratification was deposited in 2012. Azerbaijan and Russia have not signed protocol 13, while Armenia and Poland have signed but not yet ratified. All have, however, abolished the death penalty.

A moratorium on death penalty has been in place in Russia until Jan 1, 2010. According to the Nov 19, 2009, decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation the death penalty shall not be practiced in Russia at any time before the ratification of the above mentioned protocol. The Constitutional Court has also clarified that the decision is not an extension of the moratorium, but the abolition of the capital punishment since it will be no longer possible to practice it legally.

2009 was the first year that no one was executed anywhere in Europe, however in March 2010 Belarus executed the last two people on its death row.

The European Union (EU) has long since been against the death penalty, supporting the European Convention, and its 2000 Charter of Fundamental Rights included an absolute ban on the death penalty in all circumstances. The Charter has been made legally binding by the Treaty of Lisbon as it got fully ratified and effective on December 1, 2009. The treaty also has a provision for the EU to join the Council of Europe and accede to the European Convention on Human Rights. The EU has been an active promoter of abolition worldwide and has been promoting a UN convention against it, however some national governments such as Poland have opposed such moves.