Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
When Russia joined the Council of Europe in 1996 it agreed to outlaw executions in accordance with Protocol Six of the European Convention. However, the Council’s proposed ban on the death penalty was never ratified by the Duma, the Russian legislature. In 1999 the nation’s Constitutional Court found that the death penalty could no longer be used until jury trials were established in all of the country’s regions. Currently jury trials have been established in every region except Chechnya. But given the coming expiration of this ban on January 1, when the Northern Republic of Chechnya adopts jury trials, the Constitutional Court has been asked by the Russian Supreme Court to review this ban to see whether it needs to be extended.
In addition to addressing the issue of the moratorium, the Constitutional Court must also address the issue of whether the reinstating of the death penalty would violate Russia’s international obligations. Russia is currently the only member of the 47 countries that make up the Council of Europe to not ratify the ban.
Although the death penalty remains in the nation’s criminal code, the death penalty moratorium is still adhered to in Russia.
There have been some calls for the reinstatement of the death penalty to be applied to those involved in terrorism in Chechnya. Polls indicate that a majority of Russians are in favor of the death penalty. President Dmitry Medvedev and many of the leaders in the Duma, however, have indicated their desire to not see the death penalty re-introduced. A spokeswoman for the Federation Council, the upper house of the legislature, expressed the sentiment of some legislators. “The states that kills criminals – its citizens – should not expect an improvement in the moral climate of the country.”
Vladimir Lukin, Russia’s chief human rights ombudsman, noted statistics that the use of the death penalty in other countries has not acted as an effective deterrent to crime.
Not all Russian political leaders are supportive of continuing the moratorium. Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the investigative committee of prosecutors, is among those supporters.
A spokesman for the Constitutional Court indicated that the court’s decision may come before the new year.
For more information, please see:
BBC – Russia to decide on death penalty moratorium – 10 November 2009
RIA NOVOSTI – Russia’s Constitutional Court hears arguments on death penalty – 10 November 2009
AP – Russian court looks at death penalty ban extension – 9 November 2009
FOCUS NEWS – Top Russian court set to rule on death penalty moratorium – 9 November 2009
REUTERS – Russian High Court Debates Reinstating Death Penalty – 9 November 2009
RT – To kill or not to kill, that’s the Supreme Court’s question – 31 October 2009
