Twenty years ago, on February 22, 2000, the Verkhovna Rada voted 229 to 15 to abolish the death penalty, meeting a 1995 pledge to the Council of Europe.
Ukraine’s Parliament also ratified Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (European Convention), which provides for the abolition of the death penalty except in time of war or the imminent threat of war. The vote on that measure was 228 for and six against.
Communist Party and Progressive Socialist Party deputies did not participate in any of the voting.