This paper examines the background to the death penalty in Georgia and updates information given in the report “Georgia: Alleged human rights violations during the conflict in Abkhazia” (EUR 56/07/93). It discusses the death penalty in Soviet Georgia and provides statistics on its use. Although there were moves towards abolition after Georgia gained its independence, the tide appears to have turned against abolition and Georgia today faces increasing calls to widen the scope of the death penalty. The report also looks at executions in the context of the conflict in Abkhazia and registers AI’s concern at Eduard Shevardnadze’s decree on summary executions issued on 2 November 1993 during fighting between government forces and supporters of former President Gamsakhurdia. Legal and statistical information about the death penalty in Georgia is supplied in the appendices.
