At the start of the meeting, the Chair expressed the Committee of Minister’s condolences and solidarity after the terrorist attack in Stockholm on 7 April 2017 and the Ministers' Deputies observed a minute’s silence in memory of the victims.

The Deputies took several decisions on the abolition of the death penalty, reaffirming their unequivocal opposition to the death penalty, including any reintroduction of it, in all places and in all circumstances.

The Secretary General presented his 15th consolidated report on the conflict in Georgia, which covers the period from October 2016 to March 2017. The Deputies then held a debate on this topic, with the participation of Mr David Zalkaliani, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Georgia.

The Deputies also held exchanges of views with:

• Mr Wojciech Sawicki, Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly, following his communication on the preparation of the 2nd part of the 2017 Session (Strasbourg, 24-28 April 2017) and other Assembly activities;
• Mr Andreas Kiefer, Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, following his communication on the results of the 32nd Session (Strasbourg, 28-30 March 2017) and other Congress activities;
• Mr Mykola Gnatovskyy, President of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), following his presentation of the 26th general report on the activities of the CPT for the period 1 January to 31 December 2016.

The other items examined by the Deputies appear in the Agenda and the decisions adopted are available in the meeting file.