The Serbian Justice Ministry has drawn up draft amendments...

The Serbian Justice Ministry has drawn up draft amendments to the Penal Code of Serbia. Its main features are: abolition of death penalty, harsher punishment for certain criminal offences and an introduction of a new category of criminal offences, especially in the area of corruption.
According to the draft, the death penalty is to be replaced by a 20-year prison sentence. Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic explained the change saying that developed European countries long ago removed the death penalty from their criminal legislation as an "excessive and ineffective punishment".
"The abolition of the death penalty would bring us in line with modern European countries," Batic said.