Turkish officials unveiled a new penal code that abolishes...

Turkish officials unveiled a new penal code that abolishes the death penalty and eliminates laws under which intellectuals and politicians were jailed for expressing opinions contrary to official government policy.
The draft proposal was still to be approved by parliament. Analysts said the draft is considered to be a comprehensive reform of the Turkish Penal Code and noted that eliminating the death penalty is a key requirement for membership in the European Union, which Turkey has applied to join. It replaces the death penalty with life imprisonment and also widens the freedom of thought and expression that are restricted by articles 312 and 159 of the existing penal code.
The new code also widens the interpretation of the crime of torture, which is considered in the existing law as something only committed by officials as well as differentiating euthanasia from murder, both punishable by death under the old code.