Duchy of Lithuania Duchy of Lithuania Duchy of Lithuania (; ) was a state-territorial formation of ethnic Lithuanians, that existed from the 13th century until 1413. Most of the time it was a constituent part and a nucleus of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Other alternative names of the territorial formation, used in different periods, were Aukštaitija or Land of Lithuania (13th century), Duchy of Vilnius (14th – early 15th centuries), Lithuania Propria or simply Lithuania (in a narrow sense). The formation emerged in the central and eastern part of the present-day Lithuania, known as Aukštaitija, as the Lietuva Land (). It is
Capital punishment in Lithuania Capital punishment in Lithuania Capital punishment in Lithuania was ruled unconstitutional and abolished for all crimes in December 1998. Lithuania is a member of the European Union and the Council of Europe and has signed and ratified Protocol 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights on complete abolition of death penalty. From March 1990 to December 1998, Lithuania executed seven men. The last execution in the country occurred in July 1995, when Lithuanian mafia boss Boris Dekanidze was put to death. In the Lithuanian SSR, the criminal code provided for death penalty in 16 articles. After the declaration of