Capital punishment in Europe

Capital punishment has been completely abolished in all European countries except for Belarus and Russia, the latter of which has a moratorium and has not carried out an execution since September 1996. The complete ban on capital punishment is enshrined in both the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (EU) and two widely adopted protocols of the European Convention on Human Rights of the Council of Europe, and is thus considered a central value. Of all modern European countries, San Marino, Portugal, and the Netherlands were the first to abolish capital punishment, whereas only Belarus still practises capital punishment in some form or another. In 2012, Latvia became the last EU member state to abolish capital punishment in wartime.^[1]

In Russia, capital punishment has been indefinitely suspended (under moratorium) since 1996.^[2]^[3]

Except for Belarus, which, most recently, carried out one execution in 2022,^[4] the last execution in a European country occurred in Ukraine in 1997.

^ "International law: abolition protocols ratified last month". World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. 20 March 2012.
^ "Death Penalty in Russian Federation". Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide. Archived from the original on 11 June 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
^ The Constitutional Court forbids death penalty use in Russia, Lenta.Ru, 11 November 2009
^ "Condemned prisoner's death date revealed more than a year after the execution". 17 February 2023.

[1] "International law: abolition protocols ratified last month". World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. 20 March 2012.

[2] "Death Penalty in Russian Federation". Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide. Archived from the original on 11 June 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2019.

[Russia-3] The Constitutional Court forbids death penalty use in Russia, Lenta.Ru, 11 November 2009

[4] "Condemned prisoner's death date revealed more than a year after the execution". 17 February 2023.

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