On April 15, 1999, Parliament voted to abolish the death penalty for crimes committed in peacetime.

On April 15, 1999, Parliament voted to abolish the death penalty for crimes committed in peacetime. On June 1, 1999 the death penalty was officially abolished in peacetime with the entry into force of Protocol 6 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), concerning the abolition of capital punishment except in times of war or in imminence of war.
On January 5, 2012, Latvia ratified the Protocol No. 13 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, concerning the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances. Then President Guntis Ulmanis imposed a moratorium on executions in September 1996. The moratorium was maintained until the Latvian Parliament voted for abolition in 1999. The last execution was carried out in January 1996.
On December 18, 2008 and December 21st, 2010, Latvia co-sponsored and voted in favour of the Resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly.