Poland
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · The Polish Parliament permanently abolished the death...
- News items in the archive
- 72
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Poland is classified as Abolitionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 72 news items on Poland, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- JANUARY 1, 2005PolandDEATH PENALTY
Poland abolished the death penalty in 1997 and a penal code introduced in 1998 replaced it with life imprisonment.
Poland abolished the death penalty in 1997 and a penal code introduced in 1998 replaced it with life imprisonment.
- OCTOBER 22, 2004PolandDEATH PENALTY
Poland's parliament narrowly rejected a proposal by...
Poland's parliament narrowly rejected a proposal by right-wing lawmakers to restore the death penalty, abolished in 1997
- JULY 13, 2004PolandDEATH PENALTY
Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz met with his...
Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz met with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshiar Zebari in Brussels to dissuade the Iraqi government from using capital punishment
- JULY 12, 2004PolandDEATH PENALTY
Poland's Prime Minister Marek Belka said that he was...
Poland's Prime Minister Marek Belka said that he was against the death penalty but was in favour of life imprisonment without parole
- JULY 11, 2004PolandDEATH PENALTY
Poland's right wing Law and Justice Party (PiS) demanded...
Poland's right wing Law and Justice Party (PiS) demanded the restoration of the death penalty for murderers
- JULY 1, 2004PolandDEATH PENALTY
Baghdad's decision to re-establish the death penalty...
Baghdad's decision to re-establish the death penalty ahead of the war crimes trial of Saddam Hussein evoked a mixed reaction in Europe, recalling the split across the continent over the war that toppled the Iraqi leader
- APRIL 21, 2004PolandDEATH PENALTY
Poland was a cosponsor of the resolution on the death...
Poland was a cosponsor of the resolution on the death penalty at the 60th UN Commission on Human Rights
- APRIL 8, 2004PolandDEATH PENALTY
Poland abolished the death penalty in 1997 and a penal code introduced in 1998 replaced it with life imprisonment.
Poland abolished the death penalty in 1997 and a penal code introduced in 1998 replaced it with life imprisonment.
- MARCH 26, 2004PolandDEATH PENALTY
More than three-quarters of Poles questioned in a poll...
More than three-quarters of Poles questioned in a poll by the CBOS opinion center thought the death penalty should be reintroduced for the most serious crimes
- DECEMBER 22, 2003PolandDEATH PENALTY
According to the President of Poland Aleksander Kwasniewski,...
According to the President of Poland Aleksander Kwasniewski, visiting Polish troops near Baghdad, Saddam should be tried by a court in his own country with the presence of international observers
- APRIL 24, 2003PolandDEATH PENALTY
Poland was a cosponsor and voted in favour of the resolution...
Poland was a cosponsor and voted in favour of the resolution on the death penalty approved by the UN Commission on Human Rights, in Geneva
- JANUARY 31, 2003PolandDEATH PENALTY
In a letter to Chinese Peoples' Assembly head Li Peng,...
In a letter to Chinese Peoples' Assembly head Li Peng, Parliamentary Speaker of Poland Marek Borowski appealed to China to halt the execution of Tenzin Delk, one of two Tibetan monks sentenced to die for plotting bomb attacks in protest against Chinese ru
- JANUARY 30, 2003PolandDEATH PENALTY
Poland condemned the execution of a Tibetan convicted...
Poland condemned the execution of a Tibetan convicted of a series of bomb blasts
- JANUARY 1, 2003PolandDEATH PENALTY
Poland has signed but not yet ratified Protocol No...
Poland has signed but not yet ratified Protocol No 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms banning the death penalty in all circumstances
- JANUARY 1, 2003PolandDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty was abolished despite vocal campaigning...
The death penalty was abolished despite vocal campaigning by right-wing activists who pointed out that more than 60 percent of Poles supported capital punishment for brutal murders
- JANUARY 1, 2003PolandDEATH PENALTY
Poland abolished the death penalty in 1997 and a penal...
Poland abolished the death penalty in 1997 and a penal code introduced in 1998 replaced it with life imprisonment
- AUGUST 28, 2002PolandDEATH PENALTY
A poll conducted by the CVVM polling agency revealed...
A poll conducted by the CVVM polling agency revealed that 74 per cent of Poles are in favour of the restoration of the death penalty
- JULY 19, 2002PolandDEATH PENALTY
A majority of Czechs or 56
A majority of Czechs or 56
- MAY 11, 2002PolandDEATH PENALTY
Serial killer Yuri Ustimenko, was caught in Poland...
Serial killer Yuri Ustimenko, was caught in Poland earlier the week
- MAY 3, 2002PolandDEATH PENALTY
Poland signed Protocol 13 to the European Convention...
Poland signed Protocol 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which ensures the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances
- APRIL 25, 2002PolandDEATH PENALTY
Poland was a cosponsor and voted for the resolution...
Poland was a cosponsor and voted for the resolution 2002/77 on the death penalty at the 58th UN Commission on Human Rights
- MARCH 14, 2002PolandDEATH PENALTY
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski appealed to...
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski appealed to the Nigerian president to commute the death sentence of Safiya Hussaini Tungar-Tudu
- JANUARY 1, 2002PolandDEATH PENALTY
A penal code introduced in 1998 replaced the death...
A penal code introduced in 1998 replaced the death penalty with life imprisonment, despite vocal campaigning by right-wing activists who pointed out that more than 60 percent of Poles support capital punishment for brutal murders
- AUGUST 23, 2001PolandDEATH PENALTY
A Public Opinion Research Centre poll revealed that...
A Public Opinion Research Centre poll revealed that sixty-six per cent of Poles are in favour of the restoration of the death penalty, 24 per cent are against and 10 per cent had no opinion on the matter
- MAY 16, 2001PolandDEATH PENALTY
The European Union Commission and ambassadors of Sweden...
The European Union Commission and ambassadors of Sweden and Belgium have appealed to the governor of Illinois to grant clemency to a Polish citizen awaiting the death sentence for the murder of a Chicago woman
- APRIL 25, 2001PolandDEATH PENALTY
A poll conducted by the CBS polling centre showed that...
A poll conducted by the CBS polling centre showed that social support for capital punishment had dropped from 77 percent in 2000 to 69 percent in the year 2001
- APRIL 25, 2001PolandDEATH PENALTY
Poland was a cosponsor and voted in favour of the resolution...
Poland was a cosponsor and voted in favour of the resolution on the death penalty approved by the UN Commission on Human Rights on April 25, 2001
- APRIL 24, 2001PolandDEATH PENALTY
An April survey by the CBOS, the public polling institution,...
An April survey by the CBOS, the public polling institution, polled sixty-nine per cent of respondents in favour of having the death penalty restored, and 21 per cent against, whilst 10 per cent had no opinion on the subject
- JANUARY 28, 2001PolandDEATH PENALTY
Justice Minister Lech Kaczynski declared his "a staunch...
Justice Minister Lech Kaczynski declared his "a staunch support for the death penalty" and said he would be favourable to the re-introduction of capital punishment in Poland
- JANUARY 1, 2001PolandDEATH PENALTY
A penal code introduced in 1998 replaced the death...
A penal code introduced in 1998 replaced the death penalty with life imprisonment, despite vocal campaigning by right-wing activists who pointed out that more than 60 percent of Poles support capital punishment for brutal murders