Capital punishment in Croatia existed until 1990 when it was constitutionally abolished. The last execution had taken place under Yugoslavia in 1987.
Hanging was replaced by firing squads in 1959 in Yugoslavia. Capital punishment was abolished in SR Croatia in 1974, but remained legal for federal crimes within SFR Yugoslavia.
Notable Executions
In the time of Yugoslavia, several court cases resulted in capital punishment:
The last civilian execution in Yugoslavia was done in 1987, when a former truck driver Dušan Kosić was executed for the 1 March 1983 murder of his coworker Čedomir Matijević, his wife Slavica and their daughters Dragana (aged 2) and Snježana (8 months old). In the course of the investigation, Kosić provided the investigative judge and police officers a detailed admission to the murders, but retracted it during his later trial. The District Court in Karlovac found him guilty and sentenced him to death on 4 October 1983. Kosić was executed by firing squad on January 29, 1987.
Capital punishment was outlawed by article 21 of the 1990 Constitution of Croatia.
Croatia is a signatory of Protocol 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights that abolishes the death penalty in all circumstances. The convention was signed on 3 July 2002, ratified on 3 February 2003, and came into force on 1 July 2003.