Capital punishment in Europe

Europe holds the greatest concentration of abolitionist states (blue). Map current as of 2022

Abolished for all offences

Abolished in practice

Retains capital punishment

Capital punishment has been completely abolished in all European countries except for Belarus and Russia, the latter of which has a moratorium and has not carried out an execution since August 1996. The complete ban on capital punishment is enshrined in both the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (EU) 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 practises capital punishment in some form or another. In 2012, Latvia became the last EU member state to abolish capital punishment in wartime.[1]

In Russia, capital punishment has been indefinitely suspended (under moratorium) since 1996.[2][3]

The last execution in Europe took place in Belarus, which carried out one execution in 2022.[4]

## Abolition

[edit]

Further information: Capital punishment by country

### Legal instruments in Europe

[edit]

The Council of Europe has two main instruments against capital punishment: Protocol 6 and Protocol 13.[5][6]

Protocol 6, opened for signing in 1983, which prohibits capital punishment during peacetime has been ratified by all members of the Council of Europe.

Protocol 13, opened for signing in 2002, prohibits capital punishment in all circumstances. All member states of the Council of Europe have ratified it except Azerbaijan, which have signed but not yet ratified. Still, Azerbaijan had already abolished capital punishment in 1998. Armenia is the latest country to ratify Protocol 13 in February 2024, having however abolished the death penalty since 2003.[7]

### The 21st century

[edit]

The only country in Europe that continues to execute in the 21st century is Belarus (last execution done in 2022).[8]

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.[9][10]

### History

[edit]

Abolition began to appear in European history during the 19th century, 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 (previously it had not been applied in Tuscany alone since 1859, or even earlier, in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, for brief periods starting in 1786), but the Fascist regime reintroduced capital punishment in 1926, then expanding its range of cases with the 1930 Penal Code. In the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia (Romania) and Portugal the death penalty had been abolished for civil crimes in 1864 and 1867 respectively, but was more or less reinstated during the 20th century. In the Netherlands, too, it was declared "cruel and uncivilized" and abolished, again for civil crimes alone, in 1870. In San Marino, after not having been physically carried out for centuries, it was definitively abolished for all crimes in 1865.

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.[11]

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.[12] 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.[citation needed] 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 Bermuda, a Special Territory of the EU as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom, (after the United Kingdom joined the EC in 1973). 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.[13]

Country  | Method  | Year of last use (peacetime)  | Abolished (peacetime)  | Year of last use (wartime)  | Abolished (wartime)

|
|
|
|
|

Albania | Firing squad, hanging[14] | 1992[15] | 2000 | ? | 2007
Andorra | Garrotte, firing squad | 1943 | 1990 | ? | 1996?
Armenia | Single shot | 1991 | 2003 | ? | 2003[16]
Austria | Hanging | 1950[17] | 1950 | ? | 1968?
Belarus | Single shot | 2022[18] | – | ? | –
Belgium | Guillotine, firing squad | 1950 | 1996 | 1950[19] | 1996
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Firing squad | 1977[20] | 2000 | ? | 2000?
Bulgaria | Firing squad | 1989 | 1998 | ? | 1998?
Croatia | Firing squad | 1987 | 1990 | ? | 1997?
Cyprus | Hanging | 1962 | 2002 | ? | 2002?
Czech Republic | Hanging | 1989 | 1990[21] | 1948[22] | 1990[21]
∗ ∗ {\displaystyle **} Denmark | Decapitation, firing squad | 1892 | 1930 | 1950[23] | 1994
Estonia | Single shot | 1991 | 1998 | ? | 1998?
Finland | Firing squad, beheading, hanging | 1825 | 1949 | 1944 | 1972
France | Guillotine, firing squad | 1977 | 1981[24] | 1961 | 1981
Germany | Guillotine, hanging, firing squad | 1951[25] | 1949 | ? | 1949
Georgia | Shooting | 1995 | 1997 | 1993 | 1997
Greece | Firing squad | 1972 | 1975 | ? | 2004
Hungary | Hanging | 1988 | 1990 | ? | 1990
Iceland | Public beheading | 1830 | 1928 | – | 1928
Ireland | Hanging | 1954 | 1990 | 1922 | 2002
Italy | Firing squad | 1947 | 1948 | 1947[26] | 1994
Kosovo | Firing squad | 1987[27] | 1999[28] | ? | 1999[27]
Latvia | Shooting | 1996 | 1999 | ? | 2012
Liechtenstein | Public beheading | 1785 | 1989 | ? | 1989
Lithuania | Shooting | 1995 | 1996 | ? | 1998[29]
Luxembourg | Hanging, firing squad[30] | 1948[30] | 1979[16] | 1949[30] | 1979[16]
Malta | Hanging | 1943 | 1971 | 1942 | 2000
Moldova | ? | None since independence[31] | 1995[32] | None since independence[31] | 2005[33]
Monaco | Guillotine | 1929[34] | 1962 or 1964[34][35] | ? | 1962 or 1964[35][34]
Montenegro | Firing squad | 1981[36] | 2002 | None since independence | 2002
Netherlands | Hanging, firing squad | 1860 | 1870 | 1952[37] | 1983
North Macedonia | Firing squad | 1988[17] | 1991[38] | ? | 1991[38]
Norway | Beheading, firing squad | 1876[39] | 1902 | 1948[40] | 1979
Poland | Hanging | 1988 | 1997[41] | ? | 1997[41]
Portugal | Hanging, garrotte, firing squad | 1846 | 1867 | 1917[17] | 1976
Romania | Firing squad | 1989 | 1990 | ? | 1991
Russia | Single shot | 1999 (in Chechnya)[42][43]
1996 (mainland Russia)[3] | –[3] | ? | –[3]
San Marino | Hanging | 1468[17] or 1677[44] | 1848 | ? | 1865
Serbia | Firing squad[45] | 1992 | 2002 | ? | 2002
Slovakia | Hanging | 1989 | 1990[46] | None since independence | 1990[46]
Slovenia | Hanging | 1959[47] | 1989 | ? | 1991
Spain | Garrotte, firing squad | 1975 | 1978 | 1939 | 1995
Sweden | Guillotine ∗ {\displaystyle *} , beheading, hanging | 1910 | 1921 | ? | 1973
Switzerland | Beheading, firing squad | 1940 | 1942 | 1944[17] | 1992
Turkey | Hanging | 1984 | 2002 | 1921[48] | 2004
Ukraine | Single shot | 1997[49] | 2000[50][51] | ? | 2000[50][51]
United Kingdom | Hanging | 1964 | 1965 (suspended) 1969 (abolished) | 1953 | 1998
Vatican City | Mazzatello, hanging, beheading, guillotine | 1870 (as Papal States) | 1969 | ? | 1969

∗ {\displaystyle *} Only used once, at the very last execution in Sweden  ∗ ∗ {\displaystyle **} Abandoned totally in 1930, however reintroduced 1945-1950 for certain collaborations with the occupying Nazi German forces between August 1943 and May 1945. Executions carried out by the police.

#### Former countries

[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2021)

|

Country  | Method  | Year of last use (peacetime)  | Abolished (peacetime)  | Year of last use (wartime)  | Abolished (wartime)

|
|
|
|
|

East Germany | Guillotine, single shot | 1981 | 1987 | 1945 | 1987

## Belarus

[edit]

Main article: Capital punishment in Belarus

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

## Russia

[edit]

Main article: Capital punishment in 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 the Russian Federation since August or September 1996[52] (except one in 1999 in the Chechen Republic, a former limited recognition state). However, Russia was suspended from the Council of Europe in the wake of its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and subsequently announced its intention to withdraw from the organization before being effectively expelled, former President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev endorsed restoring death penalty in Russia.[53][54]

## Bosnia and Herzegovina

[edit]

Main article: Capital punishment in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The death penalty in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been constitutionally abolished since 1995. However, it was only on 4 October 2019 that the capital punishment was completely erased from the Constitution of Republika Srpska, one of Bosnia and Herzegovina's two entities. While it was still in place, it was endorsed under Article 11 of the Constitution of Republika Srpska.[55]

## Separatist territories and partially recognized jurisdictions

[edit]

In Europe there are also partially unrecognized states. In 2006, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe wrote that:

> While Artsakh 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.[56]

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.[57] Although there have been 10 sentences of death in Abkhazia, these have never been implemented.[58]

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus retains the death penalty only for crimes committed under special circumstances (war crimes). See also Capital punishment in Cyprus.

There is no death penalty in Kosovo.[59]

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.[60][61]

The Luhansk People's Republic introduced the death penalty on 26 September 2014 in cases of homosexual rape.[61]

## Polling

[edit]

Despite the fact that in Europe nearly all nations don't have the capital punishment, polling has found many nations in Europe have majority support for it and its return.

In 2015 a Poll found that 70% of Estonians are in favor of death penalty, this is an increase of support from then 62% in a 2010 poll.[62]

In 2020, a Ipsos/Sopra Steria survey showed that 55% of the French people support re-introduction of the death penalty. This was an increase.[63]

In April 2021 a poll found that 54% of Britons said they would support reinstating the death penalty for those convicted of terrorism in the United Kingdom. About a quarter (23%) of respondents said they would be opposed.[64]

In Hungary 76%[65] and Serbia 58%[66] have majority in support for the death penalty.

## See also

[edit]

* Use of capital punishment by country
* Capital punishment abolitionism
* European Court of Human Rights

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "International law: abolition protocols ratified last month". World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. 20 March 2012.
2. ^ "Death Penalty in Russian Federation". Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide. Archived from the original on 11 June 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
3. ^ a b c d The Constitutional Court forbids death penalty use in Russia, Lenta.Ru, 11 November 2009
4. ^ "Condemned prisoner's death date revealed more than a year after the execution". 17 February 2023.
5. ^ "Why Europe Abolished Capital Punishment". Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law. 17 (1): 95–129\. 2019.
6. ^ Christian Behrmann & Jon Yorke, The European Union and the Abolition of the Death Penalty, 4 Pace Int’l L. Rev. Online Companion 1 (2013)
7. ^ Protocol 13 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, concerning the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances CETS No.: 187 Council of Europe
8. ^ "Condemned prisoner's death date revealed more than a year after the execution". 17 February 2023.
9. ^ "Death Penalty - Совет Европы". Archived from the original on 5 February 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
10. ^ "NTC – Bancadati". www.handsoffcain.info.
11. ^ Phillips, Leigh (30 March 2010) Europe's first ever execution-free year undone by Belarus, EU Observer
12. ^ Q&A: The Lisbon Treaty BBC News
13. ^ PACE Rapporteurs condemn death sentence handed down in Belarus, Press release of 3 May 2013, Council of Europe.
14. ^ "Rruga për heqjen e dënimit me vdekje në Shqipëri". Dita.
15. ^ "Dënimi i fundit me vdekje në Shqipëri më 1992 (Foto/Video, +18)". Telegrafi.
16. ^ a b c "Death Penalty : International Views on the Death Penalty". Archived from the original on 6 November 2012. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
17. ^ a b c d e "The end of capital punishment in Europe", capitalpunishmentuk.org, accessed 2008-08-08.
18. ^ "Condemned prisoner's death date revealed more than a year after the execution". 17 February 2023.
19. ^ The death penalty: a few notions Kingdom of Belgium Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, 2010
20. ^ "Dušan Prodić". SPSK. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
21. ^ a b "175/1990 Sb". www.psp.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 26 April 2017.
22. ^ Jaroš, Petr. "Historie trestu smrti v českých zemích – Lidská práva". www.lidskaprava.cz. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
23. ^ "46 henrettede danskere i tysk tjeneste". ditt.almanet.dk. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
24. ^ America's Deadly Image Washington Post, 20 February 2001
25. ^ Capital punishment had been abolished in West Germany by the Basic Law in 1949. The last execution carried out by the Germans on West German territory before the abolishment was on Richard Schuh in 1949 [1]. However, the Allied occupation forces were not subjected to this, so the Americans carried out the last executions on the West German soil after the abolishment of capital punishment. Yvonne Hötzel: Debatten um die Todesstrafe in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland von 1949 bis 1990. Berlin 2010, pp. 65 ff.
26. ^ "La pena di morte". www.massacritica.eu.
27. ^ a b "Skazna > News > Current".
28. ^ "United Nations – UNMIK". unmik.unmissions.org. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
29. ^ "NTC – Bancadati". www.handsoffcain.info.
30. ^ a b c "Dark Luxembourg: "Cruel, inhuman, and degrading": the death penalty in Luxembourg". today.rtl.lu. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
31. ^ a b Roger Hood and Carolyn Hoyle (2008, 4th ed.). The Death Penalty: A Worldwide Perspective (Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-922847-7) app. 1.
32. ^ "Abolition of the death penalty in Moldova". Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
33. ^ "NTC – Bancadati". www.handsoffcain.info.
34. ^ a b c "Monaco Ends Death Penalty". The New York Times. 20 June 1964. ProQuest 115538228. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
35. ^ a b "NTC – Bancadati". www.handsoffcain.info.
36. ^ "Dragiša Ristić". SPSK. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
37. ^ (in Dutch) De doodstraf in Nederland: Laatste twee executies in 1952 Geschiedenis 24, 11 March 2010.
38. ^ a b "NTC – Bancadati". www.handsoffcain.info.
39. ^ "DEN SISTE HALSHUGGINGEN". digitaltfortalt.no.
40. ^ "1948: Ragnar Skancke, the last executed in Norway". 28 August 2014.
41. ^ a b "NTC – Bancadati". www.handsoffcain.info.
42. ^ "Amnesty International Report 1999 - Russian Federation". Refworld. 1 January 1999.
43. ^ "The abolition of the death penalty and its alternative sanction in Eastern Europe: Belarus, Russia and Ukraine" (PDF). www.penalreform.org. 2012.
44. ^ "1865. San Marino decide la completa abolizione della pena di morte". sanmarinortv.sm (in Italian). 10 October 2010. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
45. ^ "smrtnakazna.rs" (PDF).
46. ^ a b "NTC – Bancadati". www.handsoffcain.info.
47. ^ "Franc Rihtarič". SPSK. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
48. ^ Last wartime executions were carried out during the Turkish War of Independence at the hands of the Independence Tribunals (Turkey). Seyid Riza and companions were also hanged after the Dersim rebellion; however, it is not officially considered a war, and they were tried according to the peacetime laws.
49. ^ "Annual Report 1999 – Ukraine". Amnesty International. Archived from the original on 9 November 1999.
50. ^ a b The Death Penalty: Beyond Abolition, Council of Europe, 2004, ISBN 9287153337 (page 74)
51. ^ a b International Actors, Democratization and the Rule of Law: Anchoring Democracy?, Routledge, 2008, ISBN 0415492955 (page 196 a.f.)
52. ^ "«Фишер», «Удав», «Ученик Чикатило»: кто был последним казненным в России преступником". Gazeta.Ru. 2 August 2021.
53. ^ Times, The Moscow (10 March 2022). "Russia Quits Europe's Rule of Law Body, Sparking Questions Over Death Penalty". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
54. ^ "Dmitry Medvedev vows to reintroduce death penalty". The Independent Barents Observer. 26 February 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
55. ^ "Ustavni sud BiH ukinuo smrtnu kaznu u RS-u". Radio Slobodna Evropa. 4 October 2019. Archived from the original on 5 October 2019.
56. ^ "Position of the Parliamentary Assembly as regards the Council of Europe member and observer states which have not abolished the death penalty". Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
57. ^ "Commonwealth of Independent States: Belarus - the sole executioner". 26 September 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
58. ^ "UNPO: The Death Penalty Must Order its Final Meal". www.unpo.org. 2 November 2009.
59. ^ "Carte interactive : la peine de mort dans le monde". www.diplomatie.gouv.fr.
60. ^ "Donetsk Separatists Introduce Death Penalty for Treason". 18 August 2014.
61. ^ a b "Belarus and Ukrainian rebels keep death penalty alive in Europe". April 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
62. ^ "70 percent of Estonians support capital punishment". 15 June 2015.
63. ^ "Massive jump in number of French people in favour of the death penalty - poll". 17 September 2020.
64. ^ "Slight Increase in Support for Death Penalty for Convicted Terrorists". Redfieldandwiltonstrategies.com. 7 April 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
65. ^ "Most Hungarians support the reinstatement of the death penalty - Daily News Hungary". 27 October 2020.
66. ^ "More than half of Serbians support capital punishment". 10 October 2019.

## External links

[edit]

* Amnesty International – Abolitionist and Retentionist Countries
* Amnesty International – Ratification of International Treaties

* v
* t
* e

Capital punishment

Current judicial methods|

* Hanging
* Shooting
* firing squad
* Lethal injection
* Nitrogen hypoxia
* Electrocution
* Gas chamber
* Beheading
* Stoning

Ancient and
post-classical
methods|

* Damnatio ad bestias
* Blood eagle
* Blowing from a gun
* Brazen bull
* Boiling
* Breaking wheel
* Burial
* Burning
* Crucifixion
* Crushing
* Decimation
* Disembowelment
* Dismemberment
* Drowning
* Republican marriage
* Elephant
* Falling
* Flaying
* Garrote
* Gibbeting
* Guillotine
* Hanged, drawn and quartered
* Immurement
* Impalement
* Ishikozume
* Mazzatello
* Sawing
* Scaphism
* Seppuku
* Slow slicing
* Stoning
* Suffocation in ash
* Upright jerker
* Waist chop

Related topics|

* Enforcement or use by country
* Most recent executions by country
* Crime
* Death row
* Executioner
* list
* Scharfrichter
* Final statement
* Last meal
* Penology
* List of methods
* Nine familial exterminations
* Religion and capital punishment
* Wrongful execution
* Botched execution
* Resolutions concerning death penalty at the United Nations
* Capital punishment for drug trafficking
* Capital punishment for homosexuality
* Trial by ordeal

* v
* t
* e

Capital punishment in Europe

Sovereign states|

* Albania
* Andorra
* Armenia
* Austria
* Azerbaijan
* Belarus
* Belgium
* Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Bulgaria
* Croatia
* Cyprus
* Czech Republic
* Denmark
* Estonia
* Finland
* France
* Georgia
* Germany
* Greece
* Hungary
* Iceland
* Ireland
*   * Italy
* Kazakhstan
* Latvia
* Liechtenstein
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Malta
* Moldova
* Monaco
* Montenegro
* Netherlands
* North Macedonia
* Norway
* Poland
* Portugal
* Romania
* Russia
* San Marino
* Serbia
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Turkey
* Ukraine
* United Kingdom
* Vatican City

States with limited
recognition|

* Abkhazia
* Kosovo
* Northern Cyprus
* South Ossetia
* Transnistria

Dependencies and
other entities|

* Åland
* Faroe Islands
* Gibraltar
* Guernsey
* Isle of Man
* Jersey
* Svalbard

Other entities|

* European Union

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template