26.05.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Death penalty abolished ("Annual Report 2004") [#22630],  [ID 2992]

"In May parliament adopted a new criminal code, which abolished the death penalty in peacetime but contained a provision that could have allowed use of the death penalty in the parliamentary shootings trial. In July President Kocharian commuted all outstanding death sentences to life in prison.

In September the newly elected parliament voted to abolish the death penalty in peacetime and to ratify Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights, one of the commitments Armenia undertook when it joined the Council of Europe in 2001. However, in November deputies voted unanimously to amend the new criminal code to deny the right of parole to prisoners serving life sentences for grave crimes including murder and assassination of a state or public figure. It was widely believed that the amendment was intended to ensure that those convicted in the parliamentary shootings case were never released."

Document(s): Open document
Open document

21.08.2003 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Prisoners currently being held on death row went on hunger strike to protest the abolition of capital punishment ("Armenia: Inmates Prefer Bullet to Life Terms") [#15352],  [ID 2993]

Document(s): Open document

28.05.2003 - Source: Amnesty International

Despite the moratorium the number of people sentenced to death increased up to 43 ("Annual Report 2003") [#12997],  [ID 2995]

"Ungeachtet eines de facto bestehenden Hinrichtungsmoratoriums stieg die Zahl der zum Tode verurteilten Gefangenen bis Anfang Oktober auf 42 an."

Document(s): Open document
Open document Open document

08.05.2003 - Source: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights

In September, the PACE of the Council of Europe expressed its “shock” about the National Assembly’s decision to maintain capital punishment ("Human Rights in the OSCE Region: Armenia") [#12599],  [ID 2996]

"A moratorium on capital punishment was imposed in 1991, however, de jure, the death penalty
was preserved for certain crimes in the Criminal Code still in force. To comply with the commitments
undertaken before the Council of Europe, Armenia should have ratified Protocol 6 of the European
Convention on Human Rights and abolish the death penalty within one year of its accession to the
Council. However, Armenia failed to do both. In September, the PACE of the Council of Europe
expressed its “shock” about the National Assembly’s decision to maintain capital punishment. The
Armenian delegation to PACE noted that a new Criminal Code without the death penalty would be
adopted by the end of 2002 – which, however, did not happen.
As of the end of 2002, 42 men were on death row, four of them being sentenced in 2002. The
death penalty was not applicable to juveniles or women whose maximum sentence was 10 years in
prison.
[...]
The main emphasis of PACE’s resolution was, however, serious criticism. It noted that Armenia
had failed to meet its commitment to ratify Protocol 6 to the ECHR concerning the abolition of the
death penalty within one year of accession; to amend the law on the police in order to clarify the roles
of the different judicial bodies in terms of investigation and arrest; and to revise the Administrative
Code without delay. The resolution urged the government to abolish the provisions concerning
administrative detention and to refrain from applying them in the interim. Moreover, it called on the
authorities to carry out thorough investigations into alleged cases of torture, violence, ill-treatment and
bribery perpetrated by law enforcement bodies."

Document(s): Open document

28.11.2002 - Source: Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation

Under the current penal code there are some twenty crimes punishable by death as a maximum sentence ("8th European Country of Origin Information Seminar Vienna, 28 - 29 June 2002: Final Report - Armenia - co-funded by the EU Odysseus Programme") [#9877],  [ID 2998]

"Under the current penal code, which is based on an old Soviet law, there are some
twenty crimes punishable by death as a maximum sentence. As one of the conditions for
membership of the Republic of Armenia, the Council of Europe demanded the abolition of
the death penalty. In late June 2002, the new penal code passed the first reading which
retains the death penalty for certain grave crimes as a transitory clause. Yet, the
discussion on the death penalty is still ongoing. Certain circles of people, government
officials as well as politicians of other parties, want to keep some legal provisions for
death penalty, so that it can be applied to the perpetrators of the 27 October attack in
the parliament. In July 2002, the Council of Europe set June 2003 as a new deadline for
Armenia to completely abolish the death penalty in peacetime.16 Therefore, the outcome
of the debate on the amendment of the penal code is yet to finalize.
Due to a presidential moratorium, there have not been any executions since 1991. Yet,
according to a source, three men were sentenced to death in 2001 and approximately
40 people overall are on death row today.""

Document(s): Arm-cois2002-rep.pdf

10.2002 - Source: Sakharov Armenian Human Rights Centre

The revocation of capital punishment in the RA Criminal Code would be treated as an unpopular step of the RA actual President as the public-opinion poll showed that people considered any murderers to be worth of capital punishment ("Analytical Report (period covered: 1 September 2001 to 30 September 2002)") [#9949],  [ID 3000]

"The moratorium on the execution of death sentences is still in
force.
However, the public-opinion poll showed that Armenian people
considered any murderers to be worth of capital punishment.
As many as 120 people died by violence in the Republic of Armenia
in 2001.
The revocation of capital punishment in the RA Criminal Code
would be treated as an unpopular step of the RA actual President as
the public which is incessantly provoked by “irreconcilable opposition”
calls for capital punishment to be inflicted on the persons guilty
of shooting down the members of the RA Government and the RA
Parliament on 27 October 1999. The public opinion is also formed
under the influence of atmosphere of lawlessness and arbitrariness
when the individuals who are guilty of murders used to be acquitted
(e.g. the murders of servicemen in consequence of non-combatant
relations in the army, the murder of the citizen of Georgia committed
by the RA President’s body-guard and the like)."

Document(s): Open document

09.2002 - Source: Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

Report on death penalty in the OSCE area ("The death penalty in the OSCE area") [#11997],  [ID 3001]

Document(s): Open document