(RFE/RL)
September 8, 2006 -- Kyrgyzstan's Deputy Justice Minister says his country will soon abolish the death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment.
Addressing reporters in Bishkek, Sergei Zubov said a draft bill to abolish capital punishment had already been sent to parliament.
The current maximum jail sentence that a Kyrgyz court can hand down is 30 years.
Kyrgyzstan introduced a moratorium on executions in 1998.
Zubov said the Justice Ministry was seeking to build a new prison facility for 167 inmates currently on death row.
Turkmenistan is the only Central Asian nation to have abolished the death penalty. Uzbekistan is set to follow suit in 2008.
(24.kg, Kabar)