On December 10, Kyrgyzstan’s constitutional Court weighed in on the death penalty reinstatement debate that intensified following the brutal abduction, rape, and murder of yet another girl earlier this year.The court concluded that “reinstating the death penalty through a constitutional amendment is unconstitutional, impermissible, and legally impossible.”
President Sadyr Japarov, who proposed amending the country’s constitution to reinstate the death penalty for serious sexual crimes against children and murder involving rape, requested the court’s opinion on his proposed amendments.
Kyrgyzstan abolished capital punishment in 2007, formalizing the moratorium that had stopped executions from 1998 onward. As Iurie Patricheev wrote in October, “This reform was not merely symbolic: it was part of a broader effort to align Kyrgyzstan with international human rights standards and distinguish itself from more authoritarian neighbors.”
Kyrgyzstan ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 2010, a treaty explicitly abolishing the death penalty.
The late September rape and murder of 17-year-old Aisuluu Mukasheva sparked debate in Kyrgyzstan over whether the penalties for such crimes were harsh enough.