Kazakh President Kassym Jomart Tokayev

KAZAKHSTAN ABOLISHES DEATH PENALTY

January 10, 2021:

The Republic of Kazakhstan formally abolished the death penalty on 2 January 2021, when President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed off on parliamentary ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, an international treaty that commits signatory nations to abolish capital punishment.
Kazakhstan signed the Second Optional Protocol on 23 September 2020, “to fulfill a fundamental right to life and human dignity,” President Tokayev said.
It was the 88th nation to become a signatory or party to the Second Optional Protocol.
The UN convention stipulates that capital punishment may only be used in exceptional circumstances, such as war crimes or terrorist acts.
Kazakhstan suspended all executions in December 2003, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. It has one person currently under a death sentence, who will be resentenced to life imprisonment.