Kyrgyz president prolongs moratorium on death penalty

Jan 8, 2003 

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev signed a decree Wednesday to prolong the four-year-old moratorium on the death penalty in the Central Asian country for another year.

While capital punishment is on the books in the former Soviet republic, Akayev imposed a two-year moratorium on the death penalty in December 1998 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

It was prolonged in the two subsequent years, and according to the decree will now be in effect until the end of this year. A preamble to the decree said it affirms Kyrgyzstan's dedication to basic rights and humanistic principles.

Akayev was praised in the 1990s as the most progressive leader amid the authoritarian states of former Soviet Central Asia. However, Akayev has increasingly moved to quash opposition.