Capital punishment

Capital punishment

Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...

 for murder

Murder

Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

 was abolished in Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

 on 15 December 1983. It was abolished for all crimes on 19 April 2002. Cyprus is a signatory of the second optional protocol

Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

The Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty is a side agreement to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It was created on 15 December 1989, and entered into force on 11 July 1991. As of...

 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966, and in force from March 23, 1976...

 which provides for full abolition of capital punishment. Cyprus initially had a reservaton on the second protocol, allowing execution for grave crimes in times of war, but subsequently gave up this reservation.

The last executions carried out were on 13 June 1962 when Hambis Zacharia, Michael Hiletikos and Lazaris Demetriou were hanged for murder at Nicosia

Nicosia

Nicosia from , known locally as Lefkosia , is the capital and largest city in Cyprus, as well as its main business center. Nicosia is the only divided capital in the world, with the southern and the northern portions divided by a Green Line...

 Central Prison.

Prior to independence, 9 men had been hanged in 1956 and 1957 by the British for acts committed as members of EOKA

EOKA

EOKA was an anticolonial, antiimperialist nationalist organisation with the ultimate goal of "The liberation of Cyprus from the British yoke". Although not stated in its initial declaration of existence which was printed and distributed on the 1st of April 1955, EOKA also had a target of achieving...

.

The unrecognised state of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

Northern Cyprus or North Cyprus , officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus , is a self-declared state that comprises the northeastern part of the island of Cyprus...

 retains the death penalty for cases of treason during wartime, acts of terrorism and piracy jure gentium, and for repeated murders (see Constitution of Northern Cyprus

Constitution of Northern Cyprus

The Constitution of the Northern Cyprus was prepared by the Constituent Assembly of Northern Cyprus after the declaration of independence on 15 November 1983, and was approved by the Turkish Cypriot electorate on 5 May 1985 with a majority of 70.16 percent...

). But executions may only be carried out if approved by the Legislative Assembly. There have been no executions .