YEREVAN, January 19. /ARKA/. The Armenian parliament has approved today the ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.
Deputy Justice Minister Kristine Grigoryan said it is the only international treaty of worldwide scope to prohibit executions and to provide for total abolition of the death penalty.
This text, annexed to the United Nations’ International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1989, requires the States that ratify it to renounce the use of the death penalty definitively.
Armenia signed the document on September 26, 2019. In total, it was signed by 40 states, and its effect extends to 88 states.
Kristine Grigoryan added that more than 100 countries have abolished the death penalty at the legislative level, and many have introduced a moratorium on the execution of death sentences. At the same time, this type of punishment has not been provided for in Armenia for a long time.
“International law does not prohibit the use of the death penalty for the most serious crimes, but the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights invites all states to prohibit this type of criminal punishment,” Grigoryan said.
At the same time, she noted that Azerbaijan accepted the document with reservations, but under pressure from European countries withdrew them, although their domestic legislation provides for death penalty is for war crimes.