MEP Sounds Alarm Over Kyrgyz Plan to Reinstate Death Penalty

Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Nacho Sánchez Amor has raised concerns with the European Commission over Kyrgyzstan’s proposal to reintroduce the death penalty.

Kyrgyzstan abolished capital punishment in 2007 and ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 2010, The Caspian Post reports via Kyrgyz media.

The proposed constitutional amendments would require the country to withdraw from these international commitments, prompting fears of a major human rights setback.

Sánchez Amor described the move as “penal populism” that fails to address systemic issues like gender-based violence, warning that the death penalty could eventually expand to other areas of criminal law.

The EU has consistently opposed the death penalty, emphasizing that human rights are a cornerstone of the recent EU-Kyrgyzstan Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. The MEP has asked the European Commission what actions it plans to take in response.

The proposal, pushed by President Sadyr Japarov, targets severe crimes against children and women and follows the tragic murder of 17-year-old Aisuluu Mukasheva in September, which sparked national outrage. Public discussion on the constitutional amendments is already underway, and Kyrgyzstan also plans to withdraw from the UN Protocol on the Abolition of the Death Penalty.