Capital punishment in Latvia
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Latvia is theoretically the only country of the European Union that still retains capital punishment for murder, however only during wartime, so this is viewed as a "dead law".[citation needed]
Latvia regained independence in 1991 after fall of the Soviet Union. Subsequently the death penalty in civilian cases was reserved for murder and the only method of executions, as during Soviet times, was shooting with a single bullet to the back of the head.
The last person executed in Latvia was a convicted murderer Rolans Bertmanus-Lackeus, shot in January 1996.[citation needed] This was last execution under authority of any current EU state (although Latvia was not a member at that time).[citation needed] In September, 1996, President Guntis Ulmanis claimed that he would commute any death penalty to imprisonment.
Latvia continued to hand down death sentences until 1998. On April 15, 1999 the death penalty in time of peace was abolished by ratifying Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights. In 2002 Latvia signed Protocol No. 13 to ECHR, concerning the abolition of the death penalty under all circumstances; however, as of January 2008 it has not yet been ratified.
[edit] References
- The end of capital punishment in Europe
- Second Optional Protocol to ICCPR; Protocol No. 6 and Protocol No. 13 to ECHR - text of the treaties, dates of signature and ratification
- Abolitionist and retentionist countries - report by Amnesty International
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