Capital punishment in Ukraine
Abolished for all offences
Abolished in practice
Retains capital punishment
Criminal Code in 2000, according to which "death penalty" was withdrawn from the list of official punishments of Ukraine.[1] Ukraine carried out its last execution in 1997 according to Amnesty International.[2]
History
Capital punishment in Ukraine existed soon after the fall of the
Ivan Samosenko
.
In 1995, Ukraine entered the
Criminal Code in April 2000 that withdrew capital punishment from the list of official punishments in Ukraine (in peace and wartime).[1][3][4]
Ukraine was the last Council of Europe member state that used to be part of the Eastern Bloc to abolish the death penalty for peacetime offenses.[3] Latvia, also a former Soviet republic, abolished it for wartime offenses only in 2012.[5]
Politics
National Corps, a Ukrainian far-right political party, supports bringing back the death penalty.
Reintroduction in Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics
The
extrajudicial executions occurring.[6] The Luhansk People's Republic, which is also a partially recognized secessionist breakaway state in what is widely recognized as Ukrainian territory, has also reintroduced capital punishment.[7]
On June 9, 2022, following the
Russian Invasion of Ukraine, British volunteers to Ukraine Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun were sentenced to death for "terroristic activities" in a proceeding widely described as a show trial; however, they were later released in a POW exchange between Ukraine and Russian authorities.[8][9]
The Ukrainian government, which does not recognize the independence of these republics, has threatened to prosecute anyone involved in such executions for murder.[10]
References
- ^ a b c d "Serial killer Onopriyenko dies in Zhytomyr prison". Interfax-Ukraine. 2013-08-28. Archived from the original on 2015-10-19. Retrieved 2024-02-05.
- ^ "Annual Report 1999 – Ukraine". Amnesty International. Archived from the original on 20 June 2009.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-134-05814-3.
- ^ ISBN 978-92-871-5333-3.
- ^ "Countries That Have Abolished the Death Penalty Since 1976".
- ^ "Donetsk Separatists Introduce Death Penalty for Treason". The Moscow Times. Reuters. 2014-08-18. Retrieved 2024-02-05.
- ^ "Belarus and Ukrainan [sic] rebels keep death penalty alive in Europe". April 2015.
- ^ Roche, Darragh (9 June 2022). "Two British Fighters in Ukraine Sentenced to Death by Pro-Russian Court". Newsweek (published June 9, 2022).
- ^ "Aiden Aslin among 10 international 'prisoners of war' released by Russian authorities". the Guardian. 2022-09-22. Retrieved 2022-12-18.
- ^ Removska, Olena (2014-11-04). "Kyiv Authorities Slam Separatist Courts Handing Down Summary Death Sentences". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 2024-02-05.