The Central Asian nation Kyrgyzstan today ended the death penalty once and for all.

Kyrgyzstan's president effectively ended the use of the death penalty in this ex-Soviet republic by extending a moratorium on the punishment until its planned abolition, a presidential spokesman said Friday.

President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed the decree Thursday aiming "to humanize and liberalize" the criminal code and urged parliament to support plans to do away with the death penalty, said presidential spokesman Dosali Esenaliyev.

A moratorium has been in place in Kyrgyzstan since 1998. Where is Kyrgyzstan? Right next to Uzbekistan (see this map.) There was a revolution in Kyrgyzstan in March, spurred by protests. Hopefully, it will spread to its authoritarian, torturous neighbor soon.

Bakiyev was elected president in July. The country has 5 million people, 75% of whom are Sunni Muslims. There is a 99% literacy rate for men, and 96% for women. (Stats here.)

You can read more about Krgyzstan here.