RUSSIA STRONGLY OPPOSED TO REINSTATING DEATH PENALTY

February 12, 2013: The Russian State Duma decided against re-introducing the death penalty. MPs do not see execution as means of "eradicating evil," but caution that it would appease public opinion. Earlier, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said that he saw nothing wrong in the return of execution.   Talks on the return of the death penalty as capital punishment for the most serious crimes have been ongoing from the date of abandonment of the death penalty in Russia. The reason for the differences in the circles of the legislators and members of the parliament is the notorious public opinion, which, in theory, should be carefully considered by MPs. Public opinion on a number of high profile crimes unanimously claims that some prisoners do not deserve life sentence and should be sentenced to death. People's point of view was suddenly supported by the Minister of Internal Affairs Vladimir Kolokoltsev, who said that he, as a citizen, did not see anything wrong in the return of capital punishment. Head of the State Duma Committee on Legislation Pavel Krasheninnikov at a recent meeting of the State Duma said that the re-introduction of the death penalty would appease the public opinion, but would not "eradicate the root of evil."
Parliamentarian Alexander Kulikov, on the contrary, cited statistics of the Soviet times, from which it appears that capital punishment was a measure that limited and reduced the level of crime in general. "I think that now all the talk about the return of the death penalty, by and large, is meaningless," told presidential advisor, head of the Presidential Council for the Promotion of Civil Society and Human Rights Mikhail Fedotov to a correspondent of Pravda.Ru. "To talk about the return of the death penalty, we must re-write and pass a new constitution. I would emphasize that it would take a complete re-write and not an amendment. Only in this case the return of such penalties would not be contrary to the provisions of the Constitutional Court. So these issues are now only theoretical and have no real application. As for me as a citizen, I am against the death penalty, but this is irrelevant. " (Sources: Pravda.Ru, 12/02/2013)