On January 6, President Saparmurat Niyazov signed an...

On January 6, President Saparmurat Niyazov signed an order for a one-year moratorium on executions during a meeting with members of the Supreme Court. Niyazov said the Turkmen Parliament would change the provisions for the death penalty in the Constitution at a session in December. An unidentified Supreme Court official said capital punishment might be replaced by life imprisonment, but that the death penalty could be imposed in extreme cases. Meanwhile, Niyazov, who holds autocratic control in Turkmenistan, named himself the head of a newly created Commission for Human Rights. The Commission will supervise the work of the police, the military and the judiciary. Human rights groups have consistently criticized the President for restricting freedoms in the Central Asian nation.