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terrorists. The head of the Duma faction of United Russia, Vladimir Vasiliev, did not speak out in favor of execution, but suggested “we study the topic deeply in order to make a decision that meets the expectations of society.”
Today, the first meeting of the State Duma after the terrorist attack opened with a discussion of the abolition of the moratorium on the death penalty. Slutsky and Mironov repeated their proposals, with the latter saying that the issue could be submitted to a national referendum, and it could be held on a single voting day on September 8. State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin replied that, in his opinion, a referendum is not required - the decision of the Constitutional Court (CC) is sufficient: “in our Constitution and in criminal legislation, no one has abolished the death penalty.”
The head of the Constitutional Committee of the State Duma, Pavel Krasheninnikov, the day before, when asked about the return of the death penalty, answered that “we were and remain against it,” and said that this discussion “could lead in the wrong direction.” But on Tuesday, although he noted that the decision must be made “with a cool head,” and said that he personally considers it necessary to be guided by the decision of the Constitutional Court, he made a reservation: “We are ready to gather, analyze, look at bills, we are open to discussion.”
Like now
The last death penalty in modern Russian history took place in August 1996 in the Butyrka pre-trial detention center. A few months earlier, Russia joined the Council of Europe, and in April 1997 signed Protocol No. 6 on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, according to which the death penalty should be abolished in the country. The document was never ratified by the State Duma, and the Criminal Code still has an article “Death penalty”. But, as Deputy Krasheninnikov noted on Tuesday, there are two moratoriums on its use in the country - imposed by the president and the Constitutional Court.
In May 1996, Boris Yeltsin, by decree, introduced a moratorium on the execution of death penalty sentences in Russia.
In February 1999, the Constitutional Court banned the imposition of death sentences until the establishment of jury trials throughout Russia, and in 2009 - even after their creation, extending the moratorium until the ratification of Protocol No. 6.
All this time, officials at various levels have been discussing the need to return the death penalty. Over the years, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Vladimir Kolokoltsev, the head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov and individual State Duma deputies spoke out for her return. Vladimir Putin himself in 2013, answering a corresponding question, said that sometimes “the hand itself reaches for the pen to sign some documents aimed at returning the death penalty,” but even then and after that there is no support for the return of the death penalty spoke out.
Is it easy to bring back the death penalty?
Vyacheslav Volodin’s statement that a decision by the Constitutional Court is sufficient to return the death penalty is, to put it mildly, very controversial. The
29 RUSSIA Country Report April 2024 www.intellinews.com