ASTANA – The Constitutional Court of the Kyrgyz Republic has ruled that bringing back the death penalty is unacceptable and legally impossible. The decision came on Dec. 10 after the court reviewed a request from President Sadyr Japarov to assess proposed constitutional amendments that would allow capital punishment for the rape of children and for murder combined with rape.
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The court stated that the ban on the death penalty and the priority of the right to life have both legal and moral significance. These principles, it said, guide the country’s criminal policy, justice system, law enforcement, and prison system. Restoring the death penalty would break with these principles and move the country away from its chosen constitutional direction, which prioritizes human dignity and stronger protection of rights and freedoms, reported Kazinform.
The court also emphasized the Kyrgyz Republic’s international obligations. The country is a party to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which requires full and permanent abolition of the death penalty and does not allow countries to withdraw from the agreement. Because international norms are part of the Kyrgyz Republic’s legal system, the state must follow them when making national decisions.
Based on constitutional and international law arguments, the court concluded that reinstating the death penalty through a constitutional amendment does not comply with the country’s Constitution. The issue cannot be put to a national referendum, and all procedures connected to the proposal must be stopped.
The initiative followed public outcry after the rape and murder of a minor, which led the president to call for capital punishment for such crimes. His administration later proposed the relevant constitutional changes, which were then sent to the Constitutional Court for review.
