Sant’Egidio Appeals to President Zhaparov: “Do Not Reinstate the Death Penalty”

Kyrgyzstan may be on the verge of undoing its landmark abolition of the death penalty, enacted in 2007. President Sadyr Zhaparov has called for the drafting of legislation to reinstate capital punishment for heinous crimes committed against women and children, following a recent case involving a seventeen-year-old girl that has profoundly shaken the nation.

The decision comes at a particularly challenging time: according to the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, Kyrgyzstan remains among the most dangerous countries in Central Asia for women.

The Community of Sant’Egidio has issued an appeal to the President urging him to reconsider this course of action. Sant’Egidio recalls that Kyrgyzstan’s nearly two-decade-long abolition helped establish a death penalty–free zone in Central Asia and set new international standards.

“The fight against violence must be rooted in a culture of life without exceptions,” Sant’Egidio emphasizes, noting that even the International Criminal Court does not provide for capital punishment—not even for the crime of genocide. The reintroduction of the death penalty, beyond its proven ineffectiveness as a deterrent, would also undermine judicial cooperation with the European Union and other abolitionist nations.