Capital punishment has been completely abolished in all European countries except for Belarus and Russia, the latter of which has a moratorium and has not carried out an execution since August 1996.The Constitutional Court forbids death penalty use in Russia, Lenta.Ru, 11 November 2009 The complete ban on capital punishment is enshrined in both the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (EU) and two widely adopted protocols of the European Convention on Human Rights of the Council of Europe, and is thus considered a central value. Of all modern European countries, San Marino, Portugal, and the Netherlands were the first to abolish capital punishment, whereas only Belarus still practises capital punishment in some form or another. In 2012, Latvia became the last EU member state to abolish capital punishment in wartime.
The last execution in Europe took place in Belarus, which carried out one execution in 2022.
Abolition
Legal instruments in Europe The Council of Europe has two main instruments against capital punishment: Protocol 6 and Protocol 13.Christian Behrmann & Jon Yorke, The European Union and the Abolition of the Death Penalty, 4 Pace Int’l L. Rev. Online Companion 1 (2013)
Protocol 6, opened for signing in 1983, which prohibits capital punishment during peacetime has been ratified by all members of the Council of Europe.
Protocol 13, opened for signing in 2002, prohibits capital punishment in all circumstances. All member states of the Council of Europe have ratified it except Azerbaijan, which have signed but not yet ratified. Still, Azerbaijan had already abolished capital punishment in 1998. Armenia is the latest country to ratify Protocol 13 in February 2024, having however abolished the death penalty since 2003.Protocol 13 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, concerning the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances CETS No.: 187 Council of Europe
21st century The only country in Europe that continues to execute in the 21st century is Belarus (last execution done in 2022).
No member of the Council of Europe has carried out executions in the 21st century. The last execution on the present day territory of the Council of Europe took place in 1997 in Ukraine.
History Abolition began to appear in European history during the 19th century, but has only been a real trend since the end of the Second World War when human rights became a particular priority. In the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia (Romania) and Portugal, the death penalty had been abolished for civil crimes in 1864 and 1867 respectively, but was more or less reinstated during the 20th century. The Kingdom of Italy had abolished the death penalty for civilians with the adoption of the Zanardelli Penal Code of 1889 (previously it had not been applied in Tuscany alone since 1859, or even earlier, in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, for brief periods starting in 1786), but the Fascist regime reintroduced capital punishment in 1926, then expanding its range of cases with the 1930 Penal Code. In the Netherlands, too, it was declared "cruel and uncivilized" and abolished, again for civil crimes alone, in 1870. In San Marino, after not having been physically carried out for centuries, it was definitively abolished for all crimes in 1865.
The European Convention on Human Rights was adopted in 1950, but some countries took many years to ratify it. The United Kingdom retained the death penalty for high treason until 1998; however, this technicality was superseded by the absolute ban on the death penalty in 1976. William Joyce was the last person to be put to death for high treason in the UK, on 3 January 1946 at Wandsworth Prison.
A moratorium on the death penalty has been in place in Russia since 1 January 2010. According to the 19 November 2009 decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the death penalty shall not be practiced in Russia at any time before the ratification of the above-mentioned protocol. The Constitutional Court has also clarified that the decision is not an extension of the moratorium but the abolition of the capital punishment, since it will be no longer possible to practice it legally.
2009 was the first year that no one was executed anywhere in Europe, however in March 2010, Belarus executed the last two people on its death row.Phillips, Leigh (30 March 2010) Europe's first ever execution-free year undone by Belarus, EU Observer
The European Union has long since been opposed to the death penalty, supporting the European Convention, and its 2000 Charter of Fundamental Rights included an absolute ban on the death penalty in all circumstances. The Charter has been made legally binding by the Treaty of Lisbon as it was fully ratified and became effective on 1 December 2009.Q&A: The Lisbon Treaty BBC News The treaty also has a provision for the EU to join the Council of Europe and accede to the European Convention on Human Rights. The EU has been an active promoter of abolition worldwide and has been promoting a United Nations moratorium on the death penalty. The only member state to have performed executions in Europe whilst a member of the EU or EEC is France, last shooting a prisoner in 1963 and last beheading one with the guillotine in 1977. The death penalty was abolished in France in 1981. All other states had effectively abolished capital punishment before joining the EU, at least in their metropolitan European Territory. Two hangings were carried out later in 1977 in Bermuda, a Special Territory of the EU as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom (after the United Kingdom joined the EC in 1973). Due to later abolition dates in countries that joined later, there have been more recent executions in places that are now part of the EU, the most recent example being Latvia, which shot a prisoner in 1996.
The Council of Europe has made abolition of the death penalty a prerequisite for membership. As a result, no execution has taken place on the territory of the organisation's member states since 1997. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe continues to monitor the capital punishment issue. The current General Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty for the Parliamentary Assembly is German Member of Parliament Marina Schuster.PACE Rapporteurs condemn death sentence handed down in Belarus, Press release of 3 May 2013, Council of Europe.
Country Method Year of last use (peacetime) Abolished (peacetime) Year of last use (wartime) Abolished (wartime) Albania Firing squad, hanging 1992 2000 ? 2007 Andorra Garrotte, firing squad 1943 1993 1993 Armenia Single shot 1991 2003 ? 2003 Austria Hanging 1950"The end of capital punishment in Europe", capitalpunishmentuk.org, accessed 2008-08-08. 1950 ? 1968? Belarus Single shot 2022 – ? – Belgium Guillotine, firing squad 1950 1996 1950The death penalty: a few notions Kingdom of Belgium Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, 2010 1996 Bosnia and Herzegovina Firing squad 1977 2000 ? 2000? Bulgaria Firing squad 1989 1998 ? 1998? Croatia Firing squad 1987 1990 ? 1997? Cyprus Hanging 1962 2002 ? 2002? Czech Republic Hanging 1989 1990 1948 1990 Denmark Decapitation, firing squad 1892 1930 1950 1994 Estonia Single shot 1991 1998 ? 1998? Finland Firing squad, beheading, hanging 1825 1949 1944 1972 France Guillotine, firing squad 1977 1981America's Deadly Image Washington Post, 20 February 2001 1961 1981 Germany Guillotine, hanging, firing squad 1951Capital punishment had been abolished in West Germany by the Basic Law in 1949. The last execution carried out by the Germans on West German territory before the abolishment was on Richard Schuh in 1949 . However, the Allied occupation forces were not subjected to this, so the Americans carried out the last executions on the West German soil after the abolishment of capital punishment. Yvonne Hötzel: Debatten um die Todesstrafe in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland von 1949 bis 1990. Berlin 2010, pp. 65 ff. 1949 ? 1949 Georgia Shooting 1995 1997 1993 1997 Greece Firing squad 1972 1975 ? 2004 Hungary Hanging 1988 1990 ? 1990 Iceland Public beheading 1830 1928 – 1928 Ireland Hanging 1954 1990 1922 2002 Italy Firing squad 1947 1948 1947 1994 Kosovo Firing squad 1987 1999 ? 1999 Latvia Shooting 1996 1999 ? 2012 Liechtenstein Public beheading 1785 1989 ? 1989 Lithuania Shooting 1995 1996 ? 1998 Luxembourg Hanging, firing squad 1948 1979 1949 1979 Malta Hanging 1943 1971 1942 2000 Moldova ? None since independenceRoger Hood and Carolyn Hoyle (2008, 4th ed.). The Death Penalty: A Worldwide Perspective (Oxford: Oxford University Press, ) app. 1. 1995 None since independence 2005 Monaco Guillotine 1929 1962 or 1964 ? 1962 or 1964 Montenegro Firing squad 1981 2002 None since independence 2002 Netherlands Hanging, firing squad 1860 1870 1952 De doodstraf in Nederland: Laatste twee executies in 1952 Geschiedenis 24, 11 March 2010. 1983 North Macedonia Firing squad 1988 1991 ? 1991 Norway Beheading, firing squad 1876 1902 1948 1979 Poland Hanging 1988 1997 ? 1997 Portugal Hanging, garrotte, firing squad 1846 1867 1917 1976 Romania Firing squad 1989 1990 ? 1991 Russia Single shot 1999 (in Chechnya)1996 (mainland Russia) – ? – San Marino Hanging 1468 or 1677 1848 ? 1865 Serbia Firing squad 1992 2002 ? 2002 Slovakia Hanging 1989 1990 None since independence 1990 Slovenia Hanging 1959 1989 ? 1991 Spain Garrotte, firing squad 1975 1978 1939 1995 Sweden Guillotine, beheading, hanging 1910 1921 ? 1973 Switzerland Beheading, firing squad 1940 1942 1944 1992 Turkey Hanging 1984 2002 1921Last wartime executions were carried out during the Turkish War of Independence at the hands of the Independence Tribunals (Turkey). Seyid Riza and companions were also hanged after the Dersim rebellion; however, it is not officially considered a war, and they were tried according to the peacetime laws. 2004 Ukraine Single shot 1997 2000The Death Penalty: Beyond Abolition, Council of Europe, 2004, (page 74)International Actors, Democratization and the Rule of Law: Anchoring Democracy?, Routledge, 2008, (page 196 a.f.) ? 2000 United Kingdom Hanging 1964 1965 (suspended) 1969 (abolished) 1953 1998 Vatican City Mazzatello, hanging, beheading, guillotine 1870 (as Papal States) 1969 ? 1969 Only used once, at the very last execution in Sweden Abandoned totally in 1930, however reintroduced 1945-1950 for certain collaborations with the occupying Nazi German forces between August 1943 and May 1945. Executions carried out by the police. Former countries
Country Method Year of last use (peacetime) Abolished (peacetime) Year of last use (wartime) Abolished (wartime) East Germany Guillotine, single shot 1981 1987 1945 1987
Belarus
The only European country that executes criminals is Belarus, as that country is not part of the European Convention on Human Rights. Executions in Belarus are carried out by shooting.
Russia
Capital punishment in Russia has been indefinitely suspended, although it still remains codified in its law. There exists both an implicit moratorium established by the President Yeltsin in 1996, and an explicit one, established by the Constitutional Court of Russia in 1999 and which was most recently reaffirmed in 2009. Russia has not executed anyone in the Russian Federation since August or September 1996 (except one in 1999 in the Chechen Republic, a former limited recognition state). However, Russia was suspended from the Council of Europe in the wake of its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and subsequently announced its intention to withdraw from the organization before being effectively expelled, former President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev endorsed restoring death penalty in Russia.
Bosnia and Herzegovina