C Africa MPs vote to end capital punishment

BANGUI, Central African Republic: Lawmakers in the Central African Republic on Friday voted to abolish the death sentence, the speaker announced, in a country torn by civil war.

The last execution dates back to 1981. “The National Assembly has voted by acclamation for the legislation abolishing the death sentence,” speaker Simplice Mathieu Sarandji told applauding deputies.

President Faustin Archange Touadera still has to issue the legislation for it to become law. The Central African Republic, the second least developed nation in the world according to the UN, has been wracked by civil war since 2013, though it has decreased in intensity since 2018.