A Catholic missionary in Kazakhstan welcomed the country’s new Constitution for reaffirming an absolute ban on the death penalty, saying the measure strengthens the protection of human life and dignity.
Father Gabriel Jocher, an Austrian priest of the Congregation of the Servants of Jesus and Mary and national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Kazakhstan, said the constitutional provision was “a cause for joy” from a Christian perspective because “human dignity does not diminish even when a person has committed a serious crime.”
He said respect for human life does not mean overlooking unlawful acts, adding that “justice, responsibility, and the protection of society remain fundamental.”
Kazakhstan’s new Constitution was approved in a March 15 referendum and took effect July 1, 2026. It places human life, rights and freedoms among the state’s fundamental values while retaining the country’s prohibition on capital punishment.
In a report by Vatican’s Fides News Agency, Jocher said Article 1 defines the human being, life, rights and freedoms as the supreme values of the state, while Article 17 establishes the right to life as inalienable and inviolable.
“It then clearly adds: the death penalty is prohibited,” he said.
Kazakhstan had already abolished the death penalty in 2022 after a process that lasted nearly two decades and began with a moratorium in 2003.
The country ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 2021, formally committing the state to no longer applying the death penalty.
A parliamentary law approved in December 2021 removed capital punishment from all articles of the penal code, including exceptions for crimes committed during wartime.
A constitutional referendum in June 2022 later amended Article 15 of the previous Constitution to state: “The death penalty is prohibited.”
Jocher said the ban “is not new” because it was already included in the previous Constitution. By reaffirming it, he said, Kazakhstan “has reaffirmed its constitutional commitment to protecting human life and dignity.”
“We can be grateful for this decision and for those who supported it at the state level,” he added.
The new Constitution retains the prohibition on capital punishment even for terrorism-related offenses and military crimes.
Approved with 87.15% of the vote, the charter also introduced broader changes to Kazakhstan’s political system and included new provisions on citizens’ privacy, digital data and religious freedom.
The constitutional changes promoted by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev transformed Parliament into a unicameral body following the abolition of the Senate.
They also restored the office of vice president, which had been abolished in 1996, and created a presidentially appointed People’s Council with the power to propose laws and call future referendums.
