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...

has been utterly abolished in Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

, as in every other member state

Member State of the European Union

A member state of the European Union is a state that is party to treaties of the European Union and has thereby undertaken the privileges and obligations that EU membership entails. Unlike membership of an international organisation, being an EU member state places a country under binding laws in...

 of the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

.

The method of 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...

 used in Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 was by hanging.
Portugal was one of the first countries in the world to abolish the death penalty, abolishing it for political crimes in 1852, for all crimes except the military in 1867, and for all crimes in 1911. In 1916 it was re-established only for military crimes in war time with a foreign country and only in the theater of war

Theater (warfare)

In warfare, a theater, is defined as an area or place within which important military events occur or are progressing. The entirety of the air, land, and sea area that is or that may potentially become involved in war operations....

, with one execution of a soldier of the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps

Portuguese Expeditionary Corps

The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps was the main military force from Portugal that participated in the First World War. Portuguese neutrality ended in 1916 after the seizure of German merchant ships resulted in Germany declaring war...

 accused of espionage taking place during the First World War in France. In 1976 it was again abolished for all crimes.

The last execution in Portugal took place in Lagos

Lagos, Portugal

Lagos is a municipality at the mouth of Bensafrim River and along the Atlantic Ocean, in the Barlavento region of the Algarve, in southern Portugal....

in 1846. Executions carried out during World War One remain poorly documented.