Uzbek President Islam Karimov said it needed at least 2-3 years to abolish the death penalty

Uzbek President Islam Karimov said it needed at least 2-3 years to abolish the death penalty in the country. Addressing the first joint session of Uzbek parliament's upper and lower houses, Karimov said: 
"Another issue we need to resolve is the abolition of the death penalty in our country's system of punishment. The issue in question is not about introducing a moratorium on the death penalty as in some countries where death row inmates have been awaiting the execution of the punishment for many years. The issue here is about its total abolition."
Karimov said Uzbekistan had been working on this issue over the past 10 years and that the number of crimes still punishable by death had been reduced from 33 to two since then. The two crimes are terrorism and premeditated murder under mitigating circumstances, Karimov said, adding that the death penalty was not applied to women, the underage and to men over 60. "This issue is being tackled. We need to resolve it, but we think we need at least 2-3 years for that," the Uzbek president said. He said changes in public opinion were needed since the majority of Uzbek people were in favour of the death penalty.