The Central-African Republic is formally retentionist but has applied a moratorium since 1981. In 2018, no death sentence was handed out.
It is however difficult to assess whether death sentences or executions took place in the midst of the crisis that erupted in 2012. The Statute of the Special Criminal Court, created in 2015, does not recognise the death penalty as a penalty. The new Code of Military Justice adopted in March 2017 does not contain capital punishment either. While CAR has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1981, it has yet to ratify its Second Optional Protocol aiming at the abolition of the death penalty (ICCPR-OP2).
March 2019: The Speaker of the National Assembly, Honourable Laurent Ngon-Baba, PGA member, issued a decision to create a joint committee to examine the private member’s bill on abolition of the death penalty. This bill was introduced by Honourable Roland Achille Bangue-Betangai, Chairman of the Legislation Committee and PGA member, in 2018 and received the approval of the government.
26 February – 1 March 2019: Honourable Roland Achille Bangue-Betangai, Chairman of the Legislation Committee and PGA member, attended the 7th World Congress against the Death Penalty, organized by Ensemble contre la peine de mort in Brussels (Belgium).
4-5 October 2018: PGA organised a technical seminar on strengthening the legal framework of the fight against impunity in the Central-African Republic, with the support of Honourable Karim Meckassoua, then Speaker of the National Assembly, and under the leadership of Honourable Béatrice Epaye, Chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Chairwoman of PGA’s National Group in CAR. At the end of the seminar, the participants adopted an Action Plan committing to work on new legislation to modify the Criminal Code and to support the removal of any mention to capital punishment from it.
1-2 June 2018: In partnership with Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) and Culture pour la paix et la justice (CPJ), PGA organized a regional parliamentary seminar entitled “Abolition of the death penalty in Africa: the role of parliamentarians”, in Kinshasa (DRC). This event was attended by Hon. Roland Bangue Betangai, Hon. Laurent Ngon-Baba, PGA Members, and Hon. Aurélien Simplice Kongbelet-Zingas, who committed to use their parliamentary prerogatives to advocate for the prompt adoption of the bill abolishing the death penalty, introduced previously by Hon. Roland Bangue Betangai.