GEORGIA ABOLISHES CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.

Publication: Monitor Volume: 3 Issue: 212

At President Eduard Shevardnadze’s initiative, the Georgian parliament yesterday voted overwhelmingly to abolish the death penalty. Shevardnadze needed three years to persuade parliament to take this step, urged by some European and international organizations but unpopular in Georgia. The president introduced a de facto moratorium on capital punishment in 1994 and a legal moratorium one year ago. The courts continued handing out death sentences from 1994-97, but the sentences were not carried out. (International agencies, November 11)

Maskhadov in Washington.