In Chad, capital crimes include aggravated murder and other offenses

In Chad, capital crimes include aggravated murder and other offenses resulting in death, terrorism-related offenses, treason, spying, military offences, and other offences not resulting in death.
The 1996 Constitution makes no reference to the death penalty. However, Article 17, as amended in July 2005, states that, “the human person is sacred and inviolable. Every person has the right to life, physical integrity, safety, freedom, and the protection of his/her private life and property”, implying that the death penalty could be challenged as unconstitutional. Under Article 222 of the Constitution, lawfully ratified and published treaties, provided they are respected by the other party, have an authority superior to national legislation.
There have been no reported executions since 2003. However, Chadian courts have continued to hand down death sentences. In November 2013, after ten consecutive years without carrying out executions, Chad became a de facto abolitionist country. In 2013, no death sentences were imposed in Chad, while two men were sentenced to death for murder in 2012. Reports indicate that there are at least 35 persons currently under sentence of death in Chad.
After the termination of the Military Court in 1991, a de facto moratorium was in effect in Chad until November 2003, when 9 men were executed within a period of 4 days, although they had not exhausted their appeals. Four of the nine men had been found guilty two weeks earlier of assassinating a Sudanese politician and businessman. The other five executed men had been sentenced for unrelated murders and assassinations. In its June 2008 report to the UN Human Rights Committee, the Chadian Government declared that, following the “sharp criticism and censure” generated by the 2003 executions, “all death penalties have been commuted to life sentences.”
On 5 September 2014, the Chadian government adopted a penal code aimed at abolishing the death penalty, Minister of Communication and government spokesman Hassan Sylla Bakari announced after an inter-ministerial meeting held in N’Djamena on 9 September. Bakari said "the death penalty will be replaced by life imprisonment with no possibility of conditional release in future." Bakari added it had become necessary for the country to modernize its laws in the political, social, cultural, economic and diplomatic areas.
On 29 October 2013, Chad was reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council. On 20 March 2014, in its oral response to the recommendations received, the Government accepted the followings: ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; take the appropriate measures to abolish the death penalty for all crimes from its criminal justice system; promote an official moratorium on executions, and commute the death sentences to imprisonment.
In November 2012, Chad was targeted by a mission of Hands Off Cain and the Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty (NRPTT), aimed at favouring the abolitionist process internally and obtaining a favorable vote on the UN Resolution for the universal moratorium on executions.
On 18 December 2014, Chad voted in favor of the Resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly, as did in 2012. In 2008 and 2010, Chad was absent during the vote on the Resolution. Furthermore, Chad signed the 2008 and 2010 Note verbale de dissociation, which registered its formal opposition to the UNGA’s resolutions.