Interfax-Kazakhstan

Astana. - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev wants the death penalty to be fully abolished in Kazakhstan.

"I think that we should rise to this level of humanity [and fully abolish the death penalty]. But we should naturally take account of the situation in our country and people's opinions on this issue," Nazarbayev said in a televised interview on Friday.

"The whole world is moving toward abolishing the death penalty. The cruelty of laws does not encourage people to abide by them. World experience has shown that the abolition of the death penalty does not lead to higher murder rates," the president said.

Hailing the idea of replacing death penalty sentences with life imprisonment, Nazarbayev said that "if we introduce such punishment as life imprisonment, this will actually mean a person's moral death. I do not know which is worse: a death penalty verdict or life imprisonment."

No amnesty is planned in Kazakhstan in the near future, he added.