Capital punishment in Kazakhstan has been abolished for ordinary crimes, but is still permitted for crimes occurring in special circumstances (such as war crimes). Kazakhstan and Belarus are the only European countries which have not abolished capital punishment for all crimes (Belarus retains it for ordinary crimes too, and actively uses it). The legal method of execution in Kazakhstan is shooting.
Kazakhstan is not a member of the Council of Europe (which prohibits the use of the death penalty).
On December 17, 2003, President Nursultan Nazarbayev introduced a moratorium on executions. In 2007, Kazakhstan amended its Constitution abolishing the death penalty for all crimes except terrorist acts that cause loss of human life and exceptionally grave crimes committed during wartime.
The last known execution in Kazakhstan took place in 2003. Amnesty International classifies Kazakhstan as "Abolitionist for ordinary crimes only".
In 2006, former police officer Rustam Ibragimov was sentenced to death for masterminding the assassination of prominent politician Altynbek Sarsenbayuly. In 2014, Ibragimov's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.
In 2008, Kazakhstan voted in favor of the UN Moratorium on the Death Penalty.
In November, 2016, a court in Kazakhstan sentenced mass-murderer Ruslan Kulekbayev to death for terrorism after he was convicted of killing ten people (including 8 policemen) in a shooting attack against police officers in Almaty.