TASHKENT, August 2 (RIA Novosti) - Uzbek President Islam Karimov has moved to abolish capital punishment in his country as of 2008.

Karimov released a decree Tuesday stipulating that execution will end, and be replaced with long-term or life imprisonment.

The country's government has been instructed to adopt a resolution on measures to build and prepare for commissioning a set of facilities for specialized prisons.

When Uzbekistan became independent in 1991, its criminal code contained more than 30 articles stipulating capital punishment for various crimes. In 1994, the number of these articles was reduced to 13, then to eight in 1998, and to four in 2001.

After criminal legislation was liberalized in 2003, only two crimes involved capital punishment - premeditated murder and terrorism, except in the case of the under-aged, women, and those older than 60.