DUSHANBE , July 5, Asia-Plus - Uzbek president has passed an order “On Additional Measures for Preparation of Legislative and Legal Documents Liable to Be Adopted in Connection with Abolition of Death Penalty in Uzbekistan .”

According to information from the Uzbek Embassy in Dushanbe , the document is aimed at speeding up a process of reforming judicial-legal system and liberalization of criminal penalty in the country.

The source says the order is connected with intensification of work on the implementation of President Islam Karimov’s decree abolishing death penalty of August 1, 2005 .  Under president’s decree of August 1, 2005 the capital punishment should be abolished in Uzbekistan by January 1, 2008 .

“This is aimed not just at formal adoption of legal document but at actual implementation of them,” the source stressed. 

According to information from the Uzbek Embassy, on preparation of proposals on making changes to Criminal and Criminal-Procedural Codes of Uzbekistan a special attention is being paid to working out new kinds of penalty such as life imprisonment and lengthy prison terms.    

“238 TV programs, 463 radio programs, more than 270 articles in print media were dedicated to discussion of the provisions of president’s decree abolishing death penalty,” said the source, “Besides, 23 scientific-practical conference, 148 seminars and 265 roundtable meetings were conducted in Uzbekistan on this subject” 

The Asia-Plus interlocutor says they main objective of all these events is in generalizing and taking into account numerous views of representatives from the public, lawyers, politicians and journalists of from foreign countries, and experts from international organizations. 

On June 29, President Islam Karimov ordered the creation of a working group tasked with advancing the abolishment of the death penalty in Uzbekistan .  The working group is to draw up measures facilitating the change and inform law enforcement officials about new criminal and criminal-procedural laws.