Capital punishment in

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the s ...

was originally allowed by Article 20 of the 1992 Constitution, where it was described as "an exceptional punishment for the heaviest of crimes". In December 1999, a presidential decree abolished capital punishment "forever". In the 2003 Constitution, Article 20 reads: "The death penalty in Turkmenistan is completely abolished and banned forever by the first

President of Turkmenistan The president of Turkmenistan ( tk, Türkmenistanyň prezidenti), officially the president and chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, is the head of state and head of government of Turkmenistan. The president is also the supreme c ...

Great Saparmurat Türkmenbaşy". Turkmenistan is a member of the

Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights The Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, is a subsidiary agreement to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It was created on 15 D ...

, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.Ratification of Second Optional Protocol on abolition of death penalty
/ref> The death penalty was replaced with

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes fo ...

References

Law of Turkmenistan Death in Turkmenistan Human rights abuses in Turkmenistan {{Criminal-law-stub