Tajikistani President Emomali Rakhmonov submitted for...

Tajikistani President Emomali Rakhmonov submitted for consideration of the lower house of the national parliament a draft law which would put into place a moratorium on executions. The press service of the Tajikistani head of state told Itar-Tass "Rakhmonov announced the introduction of moratorium on capital punishment in his annual address to the country's parliament made on April 30, 2004. Now this initiative put forward by the president should be fixed by law." The press service pointed out that "in Tajikistan, the person, his rights and freedoms are the supreme and untouchable values and the right to live is specially singled out among them." The Tajikistani parliament in 2003 adopted a package of amendments to the Criminal Code envisaging the reduction in the number of offences punishable by death from 15 to 5.