On December 10, the head of the Constitutional Court,...

On December 10, the head of the Constitutional Court, Fehmi Abdiu, declared that: ?All articles of the penal code in peacetime that provide the death penalty are unconstitutional.? The death penalty was contrary to the new constitution that foresees that ?life is protected by law.? In this way Albania respected terms made by the Council of Europe that fixed on December 26 the deadline to abolish the death penalty. Since 1994, the Council of Europe has made it a prerequisite for all States wishing to join the Council to commit themselves to abolishing the death penalty within three years of accession and to introducing a moratorium on executions in the meantime. Former President Sali Berisha agreed to remove the death penalty from the law within three years as a condition for Albanian membership of the Council of Europe, and Albania imposed a moratorium on executions on June 29, 1995. Since then, courts have pronounced 20 capital sentences. Ten were confirmed by the Court of Cassation, but none have been carried out.