Kazakhstan has finally abolished the death penalty, which had been suspended for almost two decades. President Kassim-Shomart Tokayev has signed the relevant regulation, the presidential office announced today on its website. The execution of the death penalty had been suspended in the Central Asian country since 2003.
The courts continued to sentence defendants to death for particularly serious crimes. For example, the death penalty was imposed on a gunman who killed ten people in Almaty in 2016. The perpetrator now has to serve a life sentence.
