Capital punishment in Austria was abolished in 1787, although restored in 1795. Unlike other countries with a minimum age of 18, the Habsburg Law enacted in 1919 set the minimum age for execution in Austria at 20. The method of

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in ...

in Austria was

hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

until the

annexation Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held t ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

(1938-1945) when it was replaced by the

guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, hanging was re-introduced by the British. The last person to be executed in Austria was Johann Trnka. He was hanged on 24 March 1950 for the crime of

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

. Capital punishment was abolished for murder on 30 June 1950. However, executions continued into the 1950s under Allied military law in the Soviet occupation zone, with the last executions taking place no later than 1955, when the occupation ended. Capital punishment was abolished completely in February 1968. Austria is a state party to the Second Optional Protocol to

ICCPR The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty that commits nations to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom ...

(ratified 1993), Protocol No. 6 to ECHR (1984), and Protocol No. 13 to ECHR (2004).

References

Second Optional Protocol
to ICCPR
Protocol No. 6
an
Protocol No. 13
to ECHR - text of the treaties, dates of signature and ratification
Abolitionist and retentionist countries
- report by Amnesty International Legal history of Austria

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Death in Austria Human rights abuses in Austria 1968 disestablishments in Austria 1787 disestablishments in the Habsburg monarchy 1787 disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire 18th-century disestablishments in Austria 1795 establishments in the Habsburg monarchy 1795 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 18th-century establishments in Austria {{Europe-law-stub