Speaking at a parliamentary session Uzbek President...

Speaking at a parliamentary session Uzbek President Islam Karimov put forward some proposals on the ongoing reform of the country's judicial system. In his 95-minute remarks broadcast by Uzbek radio the same day, Karimov said among others things: "At present there are only eight articles (in the criminal code) which define crimes that are punishable by death. Today there is a proposal to reduce their number to four. If this proposal is approved there will be only four types of crimes left for which the death penalty can be applied. Aggression, genocide and terrorism are among them." The president listed premeditated murder as the fourth crime that carried the death penalty, as well as the plan to abolish capital punishment for drug dealing.