Armenia: Time to abolish the death penalty

Independent Armenia retained the death penalty following the demise of the Soviet Union, and currently has some 18 men on death row. No judicial executions have been carried out, however, under President Levon Ter-Petrossian. First elected in 1991, President Ter-Petrossian is personally opposed to the death penalty and has refused to sign any death warrants. Advancing one step further from this de facto moratorium, the Armenian parliament recently passed at first reading a bill which would abolish the death penalty completely. Amnesty International greatly welcomes these steps, trusting that final parliamentary approval will soon be given for abolition and that Armenia will thereby join over half the countries in the world today which have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Amnesty International remains concerned, however, about a number of issues connected with the death penalty in Armenia. Chief among these are allegations that law enforcement officials have used physical or other means of duress in seeking to obtain confessions in cases where the offence carries a possible death sentence, including, in 1996, one case in which three defendants received the death penalty. Amnesty International considers that the death penalty violates the right to life and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Amnesty International opposes its use in all cases without reservation. This paper reviews the use of the death penalty in Armenia, and ends with recommendations on the abolition of this punishment totally and permanently.