Capital punishment in Europe


The death penalty has been completely abolished in all European countries except for Belarus and Russia, the latter of which has a moratorium and has not conducted an execution since sept. 1996. The absolute ban on the death penalty is enshrined in both the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and two widely adopted protocols of the European Convention on Human Rights of the Council of Europe, and is thus considered a central value. Of all modern European countries, San Marino, Portugal and the Netherlands were the first to abolish capital punishment, whereas only Belarus still practices capital punishment in some form or another. In 2012, Latvia became the last EU Member State to abolish capital punishment in wartime.
As of 2019, in Europe, the death penalty for both civilian and military crimes has been abolished in all countries except Belarus.
In Russia the death penalty has been indefinitely suspended, since 1996 and has not been used since either 1996 or 1999.
Except for Belarus, which carried out two executions in 2018, the last execution occurred in Ukraine in 1997.

Abolition

Legal instruments in Europe

The Council of Europe has two main instruments against capital punishment: Protocol no.6 and Protocol no.13.
The which prohibits the death penalty during peacetime has been ratified by all members of the Council of Europe, except Russia.
prohibits the death penalty in all circumstances. All member states of the Council of Europe have ratified it, except Azerbaijan and Russia, which have not signed it, and Armenia, which has signed but not yet ratified. All have, however, abolished the death penalty. In 2014, Poland was the latest country to ratify .

The 21st century

The only country in Europe that continues to execute in the 21st century is Belarus.
No member of the Council of Europe has carried out executions in the 21st century. The last execution on the present day territory of the Council of Europe took place in 1997 in Ukraine.

History

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 Kingdom of Italy had abolished the death penalty for civilians with the adoption of the Zanardelli Penal Code of 1889, but the Fascists had reintroduced it with the 1930 Penal Code.
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; however, this technicality was superseded by the absolute ban on the death penalty in 1976. William Joyce was the last person to be put to death for high treason in the UK, on 3 January 1946 at Wandsworth Prison.
A moratorium on the death penalty has been in place in Russia since 1 January 2010. According to the 19 November 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 has long since been opposed to 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 was fully ratified and became effective on 1 December 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 United Nations moratorium on the death penalty; however some EU member state such as Poland have opposed such moves.. The only member state to have performed executions in Europe whilst a Member of the EU or EEC is France, last shooting a prisoner in 1963 and last beheading one with the guillotine in 1977. The death penalty was abolished in France in 1981. All other states had effectively abolished Capital Punishment before joining the EU, at least in their metropolitan European Territory. Two hangings were carried out later in 1977 in a Bermuda, a Special Territory of the EU as a UK Overseas Territory,. Due to later abolition dates in countries that joined later, there have been more recent executions in places that are now part of the EU, the most recent example being Latvia which shot a prisoner in 1996.
The Council of Europe has made abolition of the death penalty a prerequisite for membership. As a result, no execution has taken place on the territory of the organisation's member states since 1997. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe continues to monitor the capital punishment issue. The current General Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty for the Parliamentary Assembly is German Member of Parliament Marina Schuster.
CountryMethodYear of last use Abolished Year of last use Abolished
AlbaniaHanging19952000?2007
AndorraGarrotte, Firing squad19431990?1996?
ArmeniaSingle shot19912003?2003
AustriaHanging19501950?1968?
AzerbaijanSingle shot19931998?1998
BelarusSingle shot2018-?-
BelgiumGuillotine1863199619501996
Bosnia and HerzegovinaFiring squad19752000?2000?
BulgariaFiring squad19891998?1998?
CroatiaFiring squad19871990?1997?
CyprusHanging19622002?2002?
Czech RepublicHanging1989199019481990
DenmarkBeheading, Firing squad1892193019501994
EstoniaSingle shot19911998?1998?
FinlandFiring Squad, Hanging1825194919441972
FranceGuillotine, Firing Squad1977198119611981
GeorgiaSingle shot19952000?2000
GermanyGuillotine, Hanging, Firing Squad1949, 1951194919451949
East GermanyGuillotine, Single shot1981198719451987
GreeceFiring Squad19721975?2004
HungaryHanging19881990?1990
IcelandBeheading18301928-1928
IrelandHanging1954199019222002
ItalyFiring Squad1947194819471994
Kosovo2008? 2008? 2008? 2008? 2008?
LatviaShooting19961999?2012
Liechtenstein?17851989?1989
Shooting19951996?1998
LuxembourgHanging?1979?1979
MaltaHanging1943197119422000
Moldova??2005?2005
Monaco??1962?1962
Montenegro-None since independence2002None since independence2002
NetherlandsHanging, Firing squad1860187019521983
North Macedonia-None since independence1991None since independence1991
NorwayBeheading1876190219481979
PolandHanging19881997?1997
PortugalHanging, Garrotte, Firing squad184618671918?1976
RomaniaFiring squad19891990?1991
RussiaSingle shot1996-?-
San Marino?14681848?1865
SerbiaFiring squad19922002?2002
SlovakiaHanging19891990None since independence1990
SloveniaHanging19571989?1991
Garrotte, Firing squad1975197819391995
SwedenGuillotine, Beheading, Hanging19101921?1973
SwitzerlandBeheading194019421945?1992
TurkeyHanging1984200219212004
Ukraine?19972000?2000
United KingdomHanging19641965 1969 19531998
Vatican CityMazzatello1870 1969?1969

Only used once, at the very last execution in Sweden

Belarus

The only European country that executes criminals is Belarus, as that country is not party to the European Convention on Human Rights. Executions in Belarus are carried out by shooting.

Russia

Capital punishment in Russia has been indefinitely suspended, although it still remains codified in its law. There exists both an implicit moratorium established by the President Yeltsin in 1996, and an explicit one, established by the Constitutional Court of Russia in 1999 and which was most recently reaffirmed in 2009. Russia has not executed anyone in peacetime since 1996, and in wartime since 1999.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Death penalty in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been constitutionally abolished since 1995. However, it was only on October 4th 2019 that the capital punishment was completely erased from the Constitution of Republic of Srpska, one of Bosnia and Herzegovina's two entities. While it was still in place, it was endorsed under the Article 11 of the Constitution of the Republic of Srpska.

Separatist territories and partially recognized jurisdictions

In Europe there are also partially unrecognized states. In 2006 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe wrote that:
While Nagorno-Karabakh abolished the death penalty on 1 August 2003, when it decided to implement the Republic of Armenia's new Criminal Code on its territory, the other territories, Abkhazia, Transnistria and South Ossetia, have not done so, retaining capital punishment in their legislation both in peacetime and in wartime. As South Ossetia decided in 1992 to make Russian legislation applicable on its territory, it has observed a moratorium on executions since 1996. The death penalty is in the Transnistrian Criminal Code which came into force in 2002. In July 1999, de facto President Smirnov ordered a moratorium on executions, and there is said to be only one prisoner on death row in Transnistria.
Abkhazia formalized its moratorium in 2007, moving towards full abolition. On 12 January 2007 the parliament of Abkhazia adopted a law entitled "Moratorium on the Death Penalty", establishing a moratorium on executions during peacetime. Since 1993 the country has had a de facto moratorium on executions. Although there have been 10 sentences of death in Abkhazia, these have never been implemented.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus retains the death penalty only for crimes committed under special circumstances. See also Capital punishment in Cyprus.
There is no death penalty in Kosovo.
The Donetsk People's Republic introduced the death penalty in 2014 for cases of treason, espionage, and assassination of political leaders. There had already been accusations of extrajudicial execution occurring.