Capital punishment in Europe

Europe holds the greatest concentration of abolitionist states (blue). Map current as of Feb. 2011

  Abolished for all offenses (95)

  Abolished for all offenses except under special circumstances (8)

  Retains, though not used for at least 10 years (49)

  Retains death penalty (41)*

*Note that, while laws vary between U.S. states, it is considered retentionist because the federal death penalty is still in active use.

The death penalty has been abolished in almost all European countries (49 out of 50). The moratorium on the death penalty is enshrined in both the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (EU) and the European Convention on Human Rights of the Council of Europe, and thus considered a central value. Of all modern European countries, San Marino and Portugal were the first to abolish and only Belarus still practices capital punishment. In 2012, Latvia became the last EU Member State to abolish capital punishment in war time.

Abolition

Abolition has been common in European history, but has only been a real trend since the end of the Second World War when human rights became a particular priority. The European Convention on Human Rights was adopted in 1950 but some countries took many years to ratify it. The United Kingdom retained the death penalty for high treason until 1998 (William Joyce was the last person to be put to death for high treason in the UK, on 3 January 1946).

Latvia was the latest country to ratify (2011) protocol 13 in abolishing the penalty for all crimes. The legislation entered into force three months after the instrument of ratification was deposited in 2012. Azerbaijan and Russia have not signed protocol 13, while Armenia and Poland have signed but not yet ratified. All have, however, abolished the death penalty.

A moratorium on death penalty has been in place in Russia until Jan 1, 2010. According to the Nov 19, 2009, decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation the death penalty shall not be practiced in Russia at any time before the ratification of the above mentioned protocol. The Constitutional Court has also clarified that the decision is not an extension of the moratorium, but the abolition of the capital punishment since it will be no longer possible to practice it legally.

2009 was the first year that no one was executed anywhere in Europe, however in March 2010 Belarus executed the last two people on its death row.

The European Union (EU) has long since been against the death penalty, supporting the European Convention, and its 2000 Charter of Fundamental Rights included an absolute ban on the death penalty in all circumstances. The Charter has been made legally binding by the Treaty of Lisbon as it got fully ratified and effective on December 1, 2009. The treaty also has a provision for the EU to join the Council of Europe and accede to the European Convention on Human Rights. The EU has been an active promoter of abolition worldwide and has been promoting a UN convention against it, however some national governments such as Poland have opposed such moves.

Country	Method	Year of last use (peacetime)	Abolished (peacetime)	Year of last use (wartime)	Abolished (wartime)
Albania	Hanging	1995	2000	?	2007
Andorra	Firing squad	1943	1990	?	1996?
Armenia	Single shot	1991	2003	?	-
Austria	Hanging	1950	1950	?	1968?
Azerbaijan	Single shot	1993	1998	?	-
Belarus	Single shot	2010	-	?	-
Belgium	Guillotine	1863	1996	1950[citation needed]	1996
Bosnia and Herzegovina	?	1975	2000	?	2000?
Bulgaria	Firing squad	1989	1998	?	1998?
Croatia	Firing squad	1973	1990	?	1997?
Cyprus	Hanging	1962	2002	?	2002?
Czech Republic	Hanging	1989	1990	?	1990?
Denmark	Beheading, Firing squad	1892	1930	1950[citation needed]	1994
Estonia	Single shot	1991	1998	?	1998?
Finland	Beheading	1825	1949	1944	1972
France	Guillotine	1977	1981	?	2002
Georgia	Single shot	1995	2000	?	2000
Germany	Guillotine, Hanging, Firing Squad	1949	1949	1945	1949
East Germany	Guillotine, Single shot	1981	1987	1945	1987
Greece	Firing Squad	1972	1975	?	2004
Hungary	Hanging	1988	1990	?	?
Iceland	?	1830	1928	-	-
Ireland	Hanging	1954	1990	1922	2002
Italy	Firing Squad	1947	1948	?	1994
Latvia	Shooting	1996	1999	?	2012
Liechtenstein	?	1785	1989	?	?
Lithuania	Shooting	1995	1996	?	?
Malta	Hanging	?	1971	1943	2000
Netherlands	Hanging	1860	1878	1952[citation needed]	1983
Norway		1876	1902	1948[citation needed]	1979
Poland	Hanging	1988	1998	?	-
Portugal	Hanging, Garrotte, Firing squad	1846	1867	1918?	1976
Romania	Firing Squad	1989	1990	?	1991
Russia	Shooting	1996	2009	?	2009
San Marino	?	1468	1876	?	?
Serbia	?	1992	2001	?	2001
Slovenia	Hanging	1957	1989	?	1991
Spain	Garrote, Firing squad	1975	1978	?	1995
Sweden	Guillotine	1910	1921	?	1973
Switzerland	Beheading	1940	1942	1945?	1992
Turkey	Hanging	1984	2002	?	2004
United Kingdom	Hanging	1964	1965	?	1998
Vatican City	?	?	1969	1870	?

Retentionist states

Belarus is the only European state to still execute its criminals. A Belarus court on November 30 convicted and sentenced to death two men for a bomb attack in the Minsk subway in April 2011 that killed 15 people and wounded around 200 others.

Russia has signed but not ratified Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights (abolition in peacetime). The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation effectively abolished capital punishment on November 19, 2009.

In addition, the two unrecognized states of Transnistria and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus have not abolished the death penalty and are blocked from the Council of Europe. However, neither has executed anyone to date.

• Capital punishment in Russia
• Capital punishment in Belarus

See also

• Country-specific details on executions in European nations
• Capital punishment abolitionism
• European Court of Human Rights

External links

• Amnesty International - Abolitionist and Retentionist Countries
• Amnesty International - Ratification of International Treaties