Europe
Of the 49 independent states in Europe that are UN members or have UN Observer status:
- 48 (96%) have abolished it.
- 1 (2%) maintains the death penalty in both law and practice – Belarus.
The information above is accurate as of 2012 when Latvia abolished capital punishment in all circumstances.
- Since 1997 Belarus is the only country in Europe to still carry out executions. 2009 is the only year in recorded history when Europe was completely free of executions.
Executions in Europe in 2010: Belarus (2).
Executions in Europe in 2011: Belarus (2)
Note: The tables can be sorted alphabetically or chronologically using the icon.
| Key | Country | Year of last execution | Executions 2011 | Year abolished | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albania | 1995 | 2007 | Ratification of Protocol No. 13 of ECHR took place on 6 February 2007, in effect by 1 June 2007. | ||
| Andorra | 1943 | 1990 | Abolished 1990 by Constitution | ||
| Armenia | *None since independence in 1991 | 1998 | Abolished in 1998 by Constitution | ||
| Austria | 1950 | 1968 | Abolished in peacetime 1950. Completely abolished in 1968 by Constitution. | ||
| Azerbaijan | 1993 | 1998 | |||
| Belarus | 2012 | 2 | n/a | Belarus is the last remaining country in Europe to practice the death penalty. Current laws allow capital punishment for acts of aggression; murder of a representative of a foreign state or international organization with the intention to provoke international tension or war; international terrorism; genocide; crimes against the security of humanity; murder with aggravating circumstances; terrorism; terrorist acts; treason that results in loss of life; conspiracy to seize power; sabotage; murder of a police officer; use of weapons of mass destruction; and violations of the laws and customs of war (see Capital punishment in Belarus) | |
| Belgium | 1950 | 1996 | Last execution for common law crimes was in 1863. Last execution for war crimes was in 1950. Abolished 1996 by Constitution. | ||
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | *None since independence in 1992 | 1998 | Last execution when part of Yugoslavia was in 1975. Abolished 1998 by Constitution | ||
| Bulgaria | 1989 | 1998 | |||
| Cyprus | 1962 | 2002 | Capital punishment for murder abolished in 1983. | ||
| Croatia | *None since independence in 1991 | 1991 | Last execution when part of Yugoslavia was in 1987. Abolished in 1990 for the Croatian Yugoslav Republic by the Constitution. Upon declaration of independence in 1991 Croatia removed itself from the jurisdiction of the Federal Yugoslav capital punishment statutes effectively achieving complete abolition.
Death penalty is prohibited by the article 21 of the Croatian Constitution. |
||
| Czech Republic | *None since independence in 1993 | 1990 | Last execution when part of Czechoslovakia was in June 1989. For more info see Capital punishment in the Czech Republic. Abolished 1990 by Constitution | ||
| Denmark | 1950 | 1978 | Last execution for common law crimes 1892. Last execution for war crimes 1950. Capital punishment was retroactively carried out 1945–50 for crimes related to the German occupation in World War II, repealed in 1951 and confirmed in 1993. A similar rule was active 1952–1978 in the civil penalty law for war crimes committed under extreme circumstances. See Capital punishment in Denmark. | ||
| Estonia | 1991 | 1998 | In Estonia the last execution took place on the 11th of September 1991 when Rein Oruste was shot with a bullet to the back of the head for the crime of murder. | ||
| Finland | 1944 | 1972 | Last peacetime execution 1825. Last wartime execution 1944. Capital punishment was abolished on civilian crimes 1949 (all existing sentences commuted to life imprisonment) and on all crimes 1972. 1984 death penalty was outlawed in the Finnish Constitution. See Capital punishment in Finland. | ||
| France | 1977 | 1981 | The death penalty was initially abolished by the Directory in 1795 but re-introduced by Napoleon in 1810. It was re-abolished in law in 1981 and by Constitution in 2007. For more info see Capital punishment in France | ||
| Georgia | 1995 | 2006 | The death penalty was abolished for most offenses in 1997, but the constitution stated that the Supreme Court had the power to impose the death penalty in exceptionally serious cases of "crimes against life". On 27 December 2006, President Mikheil Saakashvili signed into a law a new constitutional amendment totally abolishing the death penalty in all circumstances | ||
| Germany | 1949 (GDR: 1981) |
1949 (GDR :1987) |
Prohibited in West Germany by the Basic Law since 1949. US military authorities carried out an execution on West German territory in 1956. The now defunct GDR abolished the death penalty in 1987. | ||
| Greece | 1972 | 2001 | Abolished in 1994 (Law 2207/1994) except for high treason in time of war; abolished completely with the Constitutional amendment of 2001 | ||
| Hungary | 1988 | 1990 | Capital punishment was abolished in 1990 and the last execution was of Vadász Ernő on 14 July 1988 for murder. | ||
| Iceland | *None since Independence in 1944 | 1928 | Last execution when a colony of Denmark was in 1830. Abolished in 1928; reintroduction made unconstitutional in 1995 by unanimous vote of parliament. | ||
| Ireland | 1954 | 1990 | See Capital punishment in Ireland. Abolished for most murders in 1964, and for remaining offences in 1990. Last death sentences passed in 1985; all since 1954 commuted to imprisonment. 2001 constitutional referendum prohibits reintroduction, even during state of emergency. | ||
| Italy | 1947 | 1994 | On 30 November 1786 the Duchy of Tuscany (then independent, now a part of Italy) became the first state in the modern era to completely abolish the death penalty. The short lived Roman Republic of Feb–July 1849 abolished the death penalty before being overthrown by French troops. When the Kingdom of Italy was formed in 1860 all the constituent states except Tuscany allowed capital punishment until it was abolished from the civil code in 1889 – although it was maintained under military and colonial law. In 1926 Mussolini reintroduced the death penalty into civil Italian law. It was re-abolished from the civil code except in time of war in 1948 (by the Constitution of the Italian Republic). Capital punishment was finally completely abolished by removing it from the military penal code in 1994. Constitution amended in 2007 to make reintroduction unconstitutional without a further constitutional amendment. See Capital punishment in Italy | ||
| Latvia | 1996 | 2012 | Death penalty abolished for peacetime offenses 1999. Abolished for all crimes 2012. | ||
| Liechtenstein | 1785 | 1987 | |||
| Lithuania | 1995 | 1998 | |||
| Luxembourg | 1949 | 1979 | Abolished by Constitution 1979 | ||
| Macedonia | *None since independence in 1991 | 1991 | Last execution when a part of Yugoslavia was in 1988. Abolished by Constitution 1991. | ||
| Malta | *None since independence in 1964 | 2000 | Last execution when a colony of Britain was in 1943. Capital punishment for murder abolished in 1971; part of the military code until 2000. | ||
| Moldova | *None since independence in 1991 | 2005 | Last execution when a part of the USSR was in 1985
. On 23 September 2005 the Moldovan Constitutional Court approved constitutional amendments that abolished the death penalty. |
||
| Monaco | 1847 | 1962 | Abolished by Constitution 1962 | ||
| Montenegro | *None since independence in 2006 | 2006 | Last execution when a part of Yugoslavia was in 1992. Capital punishment abolished by Yugoslavia Federal Republic in 1995. When Montenegro declared independence in 2006 it became an abolitionist state. | ||
| Netherlands | 1952 | 1982 | Last execution for peacetime offences 1860. Abolished for peacetime offences in 1870. Abolished in Netherlands by Constitution 1982. Last Netherlands overseas territory to abolish was Netherlands Antilles in 2010. | ||
| Norway | 1948 | 1979 | Abolished for peacetime offences in 1902, last execution for peacetime offences 1876. Last executions of wartime offenders conducted on 37 men convicted of treason in WWII in 1947–48. | ||
| Poland | 1988 | 1997 | A criminal law reform including reintroduction of death penalty was proposed in 2004 by Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, but lost its first reading vote in the Sejm by 198 to 194 with 14 abstentions). It is said that this was only populism, as Poland was in the European Union and so this initiative hardly had a chance. | ||
| Portugal | 1846 | 1976 | Capital Punishment was abolished for civil crimes in 1867. It was completely abolished for all crimes in 1911, but reinstated in 1916 for treasonous offenses in time of war. It was completely abolished again in 1976. | ||
| Romania | 1989 | 1990 | The last people to be convicted and executed in Romania were the former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, following the Romanian Revolution of 1989. Their accusations ranged from crimes against humanity to high-treason. Abolished in 1990 by Constitution | ||
| Russia | 1996 | 2009 (severed) | There have been 3 brief periods when Russia has completely abolished the death penalty, 12 March 1917 to 12 July 1917 following the overthrow of the Tsar, 27 October 1917 to 16 June 1918 following the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks, and 1947–1950 after the end of the Second World War. Currently the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation envisages the death penalty for five crimes: murder with aggravating circumstances, assassination attempt against a state or public figure, attempt on the life of a person administering justice or preliminary investigations, attempt on the life of a law-enforcement officer, and genocide. On 16 April 1997 Russia signed the Sixth Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights, but has yet to ratify it. There has been a moratorium on executions since 1996; no executions in the Russian Federation since August 1996 (except one in 1999 in the Chechen Republic a former limited recognition state). In November 2009, the Constitutional Court of Russia extended the moratorium indefinitely pending ratification of the Sixth Protocol. This has effectively severed death penalty provisions in the Criminal Code. | ||
| San Marino | 1468 | 1865 | Capital Punishment was abolished for civil crimes in 1848. The Death penalty was completely abolished for all crimes in 1865. | ||
| Serbia | 1992 | 2002 | Abolished in 1995 on the federal level (Serbia was the part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). Local (Serbian) legislation was adjusted in 2002 | ||
| Slovakia | *None since independence in 1993 | 1993 | Last execution when a part of Czechoslovakia was in 1989. Abolished 1990 by Constitution when still a constituent part of Czechoslovakia. Upon independence on 1 January 1993 Slovakia became a new abolitionist state. | ||
| Slovenia | *None since independence in 1991 | 1991 | Last execution when a part of Yugoslavia was in 1959. Abolished in Slovenian Yugoslav Republic 1989 by Constitution. Upon declaration of independence in 1991 Slovenia removed itself from the jurisdiction of the Federal Yugoslav capital punishment statutes effectively achieving complete abolition. | ||
| Spain | 1975 | 1995 | Abolished in 1978 by constitution except for military laws during wartime. Abolished from the military penal code in 1995. | ||
| Sweden | 1910 | 1973 | Peacetime offences 1921, Wartime offences 1973. Constitutionally prohibited since 1975. See also capital punishment in Sweden. | ||
| Switzerland | 1944 | 1992 | Capital Punishment was abolished in 1874, but reinstated in 1879. It was practiced by a few cantons (nine executions up to 1940). Abolished by popular vote in 1938, except for wartime military crimes, for which it was abolished in 1992. Banned by the 1999 constitution. | ||
| Turkey | 1984 | 2004 | Abolished in 2004 by Constitution | ||
| Ukraine | 1997 | 2000 | Abolished February 2000 after the Constitutional Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in December 1999. New criminal code passed in April 2001. | ||
| United Kingdom | 1977 (Bermuda) 1964 (UK) |
1998 | Last execution in the UK was in 1964. The last execution on British Overseas Territory occurred in Bermuda in 1977. Abolished for murder in 1969 in Great Britain and 1973 in Northern Ireland. Abolished for all remaining offences (high treason, piracy with violence and offences under military jurisdiction) in UK in 1998. European Convention, Thirteenth Protocol ratified in 2003 confirming total abolition. See Capital punishment in the United Kingdom. The last British Territory or Crown Dependency to completely abolish capital punishment was Jersey on 10 December 2006 (see Capital punishment in Jersey). | ||
| Vatican City | 1870 | 1969 |
Read more about this topic: Use Of Capital Punishment By Country
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