In February 1998, the death penalty was abolished in Azerbaijan. In the Penal Code adopted in 2000, shooting was replaced by life imprisonment. Subsequently, by decision of the Milli Majlis, the sentence of all persons who had previously been sentenced to death was automatically changed to life imprisonment.
Furthermore, in 2024, life sentences were handed down in several cases in court. For example, the person who murdered Milli Majlis MP Fazil Mustafa, who killed his 20-year-old wife and 9-month-old baby, was sentenced to life in prison.
Although no statistics have been published for 2024, the number of those sentenced to life imprisonment in previous years is known.
According to information obtained by Modern.az from the State Statistics Committee, 297 people were sentenced to life imprisonment during the period 1998-2023.
However, some of them were pardoned during this period. If we take into account those whose sentences were changed to life imprisonment and those who were pardoned after the abolition of the death penalty, we can see that in Azerbaijan there are about 300 people serving life sentences.
Javanshir Gasimzadeh, a member of the Azerbaijan Bar Association, said that the penalty of life imprisonment was applied for the first time in history during the Roman Empire:
“In Rome, people who committed serious crimes were sentenced to death or hard labor for life. This system of punishment laid the foundation for the life sentence that exists in current legislation, with the aim of isolating to criminals in society, the life sentence used in the modern world dates back to the 18th century, in Europe it began to be applied since then, many countries began to apply this sentence as an alternative to the death penalty. Life imprisonment instead of the death penalty was widespread in the late 19th century.
According to the lawyer, life imprisonment as one of the types of punishment is reflected in article 42 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan:
According to article 57.1 of said Code, life imprisonment is determined only for especially serious crimes committed against peace and humanity, war crimes, against personality, public security and order and the power of the State.”
C. Gasimzade noted that this penalty does not apply to all categories of criminal acts, but only if the criminal act committed belongs to the aforementioned category of crimes:
“Crimes against peace and humanity are covered in Chapter 16 of the Penal Code, war crimes in Chapter 17, crimes against personality in Chapter 18, crimes against public safety and public order in the Chapter 19, and crimes committed against state power are included in Chapter 20. I would like to point out once again that life imprisonment is imposed on those who have committed these crimes, if the crime committed falls into the category of especially serious crimes (penalty of prison of more than twelve years for the intentional commission of a criminal offense). They are considered especially serious crimes (code or acts with more severe penalties).
