Valery Fadeev, Chairman of the Human Rights Council of the President of the Russian Federation (HRC), told socialbites.ca that a possible decision to lift the moratorium on the death penalty “must be thoroughly considered.” According to him, we must first address the problems that led to proposals for the reinstatement of the death penalty.
“The decision needs to be thought through; There are many different factors. We also discuss it in the Human Rights Council. For example, some say that the death penalty has no effect on potential criminals and that the crime rate is still high in countries where the death penalty is implemented. There is another point of view. I talked to distinguished lawyers. They say that such a measure, in particular the death penalty given to terrorists, could affect collaborators. “It is clear that most of the perpetrators knew what they were getting into and their accomplices believed these were quite innocent acts,” he said.
Fadeev believes that the “war with the West” should also be taken into account when it comes to lifting the moratorium on the death penalty.
“The decision must be made in the context of the war we are currently waging with the West. This is a different situation than we experienced a few years ago. In this context, public awareness is important. “Of course, as can be expected, public sentiment is in favor of bringing back the death penalty,” he explained.
According to Fadeev, there is a risk of “opening Pandora’s box” if the death penalty is reinstated for articles about terrorism; people will start insisting on such a penalty for other articles as well.
“I believe that Pandora’s box cannot be opened in any case without discussing the previous issues. Risky. We are at war with the West. We need to start from here. As some Russian legal experts say, during this acute situation, it is possible to reinstate the death penalty for very limited crimes, perhaps only for one crime, namely terrorism. Go back and then cancel. Then maybe the situation will improve. I can continue with questions that require discussion and answers. Because this is a very serious decision and we need to approach it very seriously. Only after answering and discussing these questions do you need to make a meaningful decision. “And in this case, I think it’s wrong to reduce everything to ‘are you for or against’, ‘yes or no’,” he concluded.
The day after the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall, Vladimir Vasiliev, chairman of the United Russian Duma group statedHe said the issue of the death penalty “will be examined in depth and a decision will be reached that will meet the needs of society.”
Lifting the moratorium on the death penalty in the name Member of the Federation Council Elena Afanasyeva. According to him, “only death penalty” should be imposed on terrorists. Former President Dmitry Medvedev also talked about the executions and oppression of terrorist families.
In response, Pavel Krasheninnikov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on State Building and Legislation, said that discussions on the death penalty in Russia “could go in the wrong direction.” Senator of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Andrey Klishas statedThat no house of the Russian parliament can overrule the decision of the Constitutional Court on this issue. He said that the Constitution would need to be amended again for this.
Previously Peskov statedIt was stated that the Kremlin did not participate in the debate on bringing back the death penalty.