UZBEKISTAN. COUNTRY TO KEEP DEATH PENALTY FOR AT LEAST 2 YEARS

July 1, 2005: Uzbekistan is working to abolish the death penalty, but it will be "no less than two or three years" before the country scraps capital punishment, Justice Minister Buritosh Mustafayev said.
"Uzbek legislation is unflinchingly moving toward the situation where there will ultimately be no death penalty in our law," Mustafayev told the Uzbek newspaper Narodnoye Slovo.
"For a little more than ten years that have passed, the number of offenses that are punishable by a death sentence has been reduced to two from 33," he said.
Abolition of the death penalty has become "an urgent necessity, and it needs to be dealt with, but, as our president has said, it will take time, no less than two or three years," Mustafayev said.
"Primarily, an extensive explanatory campaign needs to be carried out among the population, the majority of which is against the abolition of the death penalty today," he said.
In addition, "facilities need to be built for the imprisonment of those who will be sentenced to life or lengthy prison terms," Mustafayev added. (Sources: Interfax Central Asia News, 01/07/2005)