DailySun
Zimbabwe has officially eliminated the death penalty, marking nearly twenty years since the last execution was conducted in the nation.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa sanctioned the new legislation following a cabinet resolution to eliminate capital punishment in June, as indicated by Chief Secretary to the Cabinet Martin Rushwaya in a recent government announcement.
“No court shall impose the death penalty upon any individual for any offense, regardless of when it was committed, and shall instead assign an appropriate alternative sentence based on the specific circumstances of the case,” as stated in an act published in the official Government Gazette.
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Read: Zimbabwe abolishes death penalty 19 years after last execution [Feb 2024]
President Mnangagwa, who was sentenced to death by the former Prime Minister Ian Smith’s white-minority regime during Zimbabwe’s fight for liberation, has vehemently opposed capital punishment.
With this decision, Zimbabwe joins more than two-thirds of countries around the globe that have either abolished the death penalty in law or in practice.
Presently, there are 65 inmates on death row in Zimbabwe, with the last execution having taken place in 2005.
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