KAZAKHSTAN SET TO "VIRTUALLY" ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY

at today's joint session of the Kazakhstan parliament's two chambers, President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed including a norm into the constitution virtually abolishing the death penalty in the republic.
"By establishing at constitutional level the possibility of using the death penalty only for terror crimes entailing loss of life and for especially grave crimes committed in wartime, Kazakhstan will thus become a country where the death penalty is virtually not used," the head of state emphasized. "The death penalty was not used in our country during the past four years because of the moratorium announced by me."