{"id":4496,"date":"2021-01-02T11:08:19","date_gmt":"2021-01-02T11:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=145487"},"modified":"2021-01-02T11:08:19","modified_gmt":"2021-01-02T11:08:19","slug":"kazakhstan-officially-abolishes-death-penalty-after-nearly-two-decade-freeze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/02\/kazakhstan-officially-abolishes-death-penalty-after-nearly-two-decade-freeze\/","title":{"rendered":"Kazakhstan Officially Abolishes Death Penalty After Nearly Two-Decade Freeze"},"content":{"rendered":"
Kazakhstan has abolished the death penalty, making permanent a nearly two-decade freeze on capital punishment in the Central Asian country, a statement<\/a><\/strong> on the presidential website said on January 2.<\/p>\n The statement said Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev had signed off on parliamentary ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights \u2013 a document that obligates signatories to abolish the death penalty.<\/p>\n Kazakhstan instituted an indefinite moratorium on capital punishment in 2003 but retained the death penalty for terrorism-related offenses.<\/p>\n