From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Capital punishment in Latvia
was abolished for ordinary crimes in 1999 and for crimes committed during wartime in 2012.
[1]
Latvia
is party to several international instruments which ban capital punishment.
History
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Latvia
regained independence in 1991 after the fall of the
Soviet Union
. Subsequently, the death penalty in civilian cases was reserved for murder and the only method of execution, as during Soviet times, was shooting with a single bullet to the back of the head. The last executions took place in January 1996.
[2]
In October 1996,
President
Guntis Ulmanis
stated that he would commute any death sentence to a term of imprisonment.
[3]
Latvia continued to hand down death sentences until 1998. On April 15, 1999 the death penalty in peacetime was abolished by ratifying Protocol No. 6 to the
European Convention on Human Rights
. In 2002, Latvia signed Protocol No. 13 to ECHR, concerning the abolition of the death penalty under all circumstances. The law on the ratification of Protocol 13 was adopted on 13 October 2011, and the protocol was ratified on 26 January 2012, entering into force on 1 May 2012.
[4]
Latvia was the last
European Union
country to retain capital punishment for wartime murder,
[5]
[6]
until it abolished it in 2012.
[7]
Latvia acceded to the
Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
in 2013.
[8]
References
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External links
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