The issue of a moratorium on the use of the death penalty...

The issue of a moratorium on the use of the death penalty has been under wide discussion. There were diametrically opposing views on the subject, which can be explained on the one hand by the influence of Islam and the syndrome of the recent bloody civil war and on the other hand by the Tajik people's striving to create a modern democratic society.
The first deputy chairman of the Tajik Supreme Court, Mahmadali Vatanov, said that Tajikistan cannot put a moratorium on the death penalty now because there are still criminal groups which may commit murder and other very serious crimes any time and that a moratorium on the death penalty might cause an increase in crime in the country.
In the opinion of Security Council Secretary Amirqul Azimov, said that "people who have committed violent crimes that go beyond the boundaries of humanity must receive retribution under the law."
The chairman of the Assembly of Representatives committee for legislation and human rights, Zafar Aliyev, said that it is too early to consider such a moratorium because the country has only started recovering from the civil war and everybody saw then what some people are capable of doing.
The head of the constitutional guarantees and civil rights department of the Tajik presidential apparatus, Gulchehra Sharipova, declared: "Every criminal must be given the punishment warranted by the crime he has committed."
Of all the politicians and public figures whom Asia-Plus polled, only the deputy chairman of the People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan, Sayfullo Safarov, made it unambiguously clear that he is for imposing such a moratorium. He said: "It is about time Tajikistan started bringing its laws into conformity with international standards."