Capital punishment in Europe

The Council of Europe has two main instruments against capital punishment: Protocol no.6 and Protocol no.13.

Protocol No 6, opened for signing in 1983, which prohibits the death penalty during peacetime has been ratified by all members of the Council of Europe, except Russia (which has signed, but not ratified).

Protocol No 13, opened for signing in 2002, prohibits the death penalty in all circumstances (including for war crimes). All member states of the Council of Europe have ratified it, except Azerbaijan and Russia, which have not signed it, and Armenia, which has signed but not yet ratified. All have, however, abolished the death penalty. Poland was the latest country to ratify Protocol No 13 in May 2014.[4][5]

The only country in Europe that continues to execute in the 21st century is Belarus (last execution done in 2019).[6]

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.[7][8]

Abolition has been common in European history, but has only been a real trend since the end of the Second World War when human rights became a particular priority. The Kingdom of Italy had abolished the death penalty for civilians with the adoption of the Zanardelli Penal Code of 1889, but the Fascists had reintroduced it with the 1930 Penal Code.

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 The United Kingdom retained the death penalty for high treason until 1998; however, this technicality was superseded by the absolute ban on the death penalty in 1976.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.[9]

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.[10] 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; however some EU member state such as Poland have opposed such moves.. 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 a Bermuda, a Special Territory of the EU as a UK Overseas Territory, (after the UK 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.[11]

Country	Method	Year of last use (peacetime)	Abolished (peacetime)	Year of last use (wartime)	Abolished (wartime)
Albania	Firing Squad, Hanging[12]	1992[13]	2000	?	2007
Andorra	Garrotte, Firing squad	1943	1990	?	1996?
Armenia	Single shot	1991	2003	?	2003[14]
Austria	Hanging	1950	1950	?	1968?
Azerbaijan	Single shot	1993	1998	?	1998
Belarus	Single shot	2018	–	?	–
Belgium	Guillotine	1863	1996	1950[15]	1996
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Firing squad	1975	2000	?	2000?
Bulgaria	Firing squad	1989	1998	?	1998?
Croatia	Firing squad	1987	1990	?	1997?
Cyprus	Hanging	1962	2002	?	2002?
Czech Republic	Hanging	1989	1990[16]	1948[17]	1990[16]
Denmark	Beheading, Firing squad	1892	1930	1950[18]	1994
Estonia	Single shot	1991	1998	?	1998?
Finland	Firing Squad, Hanging	1825	1949	1944	1972
France	Guillotine, Firing Squad	1977	1981[19]	1961	1981
Georgia	Single shot	1995	2000	?	2000
Germany	Guillotine, Hanging, Firing Squad	1949, 1951[20]	1949	1945	1949
Greece	Firing Squad	1972	1975	?	2004
Hungary	Hanging	1988	1990	?	1990
Iceland	Beheading	1830	1928	–	1928
Ireland	Hanging	1954	1990	1922	2002
Italy	Firing Squad	1947	1948	1947[21]	1994
Kosovo	Firing Squad	1984[22]	1999[23]	?	1999[22]
Latvia	Shooting	1996	1999	?	2012
Liechtenstein	?	1785	1989	?	1989
Lithuania	Shooting	1995	1996	?	1998 [24]
Luxembourg	Hanging	?	1979[14]	?	1979[14]
Malta	Hanging	1943	1971	1942	2000
Moldova	?	?	2005[25]	?	2005[25]
Monaco	?	1929[26]	1962 or 1964[26][27]	?	1962 or 1964[27][26]
Montenegro	–	None since independence	2002	None since independence	2002
Netherlands	Hanging, Firing squad	1860	1870	1952[28]	1983
North Macedonia	–	None since independence	1991[29]	None since independence	1991[29]
Norway	Beheading	1876[30]	1902	1948[31]	1979
Poland	Hanging	1988	1997[32]	?	1997[32]
Portugal	Hanging, Garrotte, Firing squad	1846	1867	1918?	1976
Romania	Firing squad	1989	1990	?	1991
Russia	Single shot	1996[3]	–[3]	?	–[3]
San Marino	?	1468	1848	?	1865
Serbia	Firing squad[33]	1992	2002	?	2002
Slovakia	Hanging	1989	1990[34]	None since independence	1990[34]
Slovenia	Hanging	1957	1989	?	1991
Spain	Garrotte, Firing squad	1975	1978	1939	1995
Sweden	Guillotine${\displaystyle *}$, Beheading, Hanging	1910	1921	?	1973
Switzerland	Beheading	1940	1942	1945?	1992
Turkey	Hanging	1984	2002	1921[35]	2004
Ukraine	?	1997[36]	2000[37][38]	?	2000[37][38]
United Kingdom	Hanging	1964	1965 (suspended) 1969 (abolished)	1953	1998
Vatican City	Mazzatello	1870 (as Papal States)	1969	?	1969

${\displaystyle */}$Only used once, at the very last execution in Sweden