DUSHANBE, January 7, 2013, Asia-Plus – Tajik courts within the jurisdiction of the Council of Justice (Shuroi Adliya) (all courts except the Supreme Court) passed two life sentences last year, the Council of Justice chairman, Zafar Azizov, told reporters in Dushanbe on January 7.

“Those two persons were sentenced to life prison for serious crimes – raping and killing,” Azizov noted.

In all, seventeen persons were sentenced to life in prison last year, according to him.

Since 2004, Tajikistan put moratorium on death penalty. At the same year, life imprisonment was declared as a legal alternative of that punishment. In spite of the fact that no death penalty issued in Tajikistan, this type of punishment exists de-jure. Number of articles in Tajikistan, for which capital punishment used to be delivered, was decreased from 16 up to 5 and they were for murder, terrorism, rape, biocide and genocide.

In 2012, Tajik courts reportedly considered 8,467 criminal proceedings and 3,706 persons were convicted.  42 acquittals were passed last year, nineteen persons were acquitted fully and the remaining twenty-three persons were acquitted partially.  Among those acquitted are persons charged with fraud, document forgery, land machinations, bribery, and inflicting light bodily injuries.