Europe holds the greatest concentration of abolitionist states (blue). Map current as of 2022
Abolished for all offences
Abolished in practice
Retains capital punishment
Capital punishment in Slovakia (Slovak: Trest smrti) was abolished in 1990 and the most severe punishment permissible by law is life imprisonment. Before that, capital punishment was common in Czechoslovakia, the Slovak State, Austria-Hungary, the Kingdom of Hungary and probably all previous political entities that existed in the area of today's Slovakia. Since 1989, no one has been executed in Slovakia save for a few controversial political killings by the Slovak Secret Service in the 1990s.[1][2] Since then, there have been no reports of the government or its agents committing arbitrary or unlawful killings.[3]
The last person executed in Slovakia remains Štefan Svitek (28) from Podbrezová who killed his wife and two daughters with an axe in 1987 and was executed on 8 June 1989 in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (at that time).[4]
Public opinion
A 2001 poll found that support for the Death penalty was 57%.[5]
A 2005 poll carried out by the MVK agency for the SME daily found 61.7 percent of the respondents in favour of reintroducing capital punishment in Slovakia.[6]
^Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs (2007-03-06). "Slovak Republic". 2001-2009.state.gov. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
