Central African legislators voted on Friday 27 May to abolish the death penalty.
“The National Assembly adopted with applause the law abolishing the death penalty in the Central African Republic,” said Simplice Mathieu Sarandji, President of the National Assembly, under applause. But the new law must now be promulgated in the coming days by the President of the Republic, Faustin Archange Touadéra.
Thus, the Central African Republic joins Guinea (2016), Chad (2020), and Sierra Leone (2021) as African countries that have abolished the death penalty in recent years on the continent. It is therefore a positive signal that the trend towards reducing capital punishment in Africa is continuing. Indeed, the last capital execution in the country was in 1981, more than 30 years ago. Since then, the judiciary in the Central African Republic has no longer requested the death penalty against a convicted person, but the possibility of a guilty person being executed remained.
Even if the law is not yet enacted, it is already a source of joy for many actors. “Good news, the National Assembly of the Central African Republic has just voted to abolish the death penalty,” tweeted the NGO Amnesty International, which campaigns for a ban on capital punishment. “We invite the President (…) to promulgate this law”, he continued.
A country of about 5.5 million people, the Central African Republic is plagued by violence and fighting between rebel groups and the national army. The latter is supported by Russian mercenaries.
