In accordance with the country's new criminal code...

In accordance with the country's new criminal code it was planned to introduce a moratorium on capital punishment in Kazakhstan as of January 2003. This issue was the main topic of a briefing that took place in the capital Astana. The vice-president of the International Association of Lawyers, Nurlan Zhanabilov, the first deputy head of the administration of the country's Supreme Court, answered the journalists' questions. The Kazakh TV correspondent said: "One of the main provisions to enter the Council of Europe, which Kazakhstan also aspires to join, is a candidate abolishing capital punishment or introducing the moratorium on its territory. Of all European countries, only Russia and Albania nominally have the death penalty at present. This issue has been discussed for a long time in Kazakhstan and there are divided opinions. Based on the words of the first deputy head of the country's Supreme Court, Nurlan Zhanabilov, the stand of the highest judicial body on this issue is absolutely neutral. "The position of the Supreme Court is that we do not have right to support either opponents or proponents of the capital punishment," said Nurlan Zhanabilov. "If the legislative body passes it and in addition there are appropriate conditions for this then the moratorium may be, or may not be, brought into effect."