December 20-21, 2001: a two-day international conference,...

December 20-21, 2001: a two-day international conference, entitled "The death penalty: pros and cons", opened in Dushanbe on December 20. A conference of that sort is being held for the first time in Tajikistan and is backed by the Soros Foundation's Open Society Institute and the OSCE office.
Representatives from the legislative and higher prosecution bodies of Tajikistan, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Iran are attending the conference.
The main aim of the conference is to seek ways of solving the problem in Tajikistan in the light of international experience.
Those attending the conference stressed that Tajikistan was among the first countries in the region to sign and ratify the most important international convention on the subject.