There will always be discussions about ending of the moratorium on the death penalty, but Russia should not deviate from previously made decisions on the matter, members of the parliament told Sputnik in interviews
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th October, 2019) There will always be discussions about ending of the moratorium on the death penalty, but Russia should not deviate from previously made decisions on the matter, members of the parliament told Sputnik in interviews.October 10 marks World Day Against the Death Penalty. The date was established in 2003 by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, whose main goal was to reduce the number of death sentences.
As Igor Lebedev, the deputy speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, told Sputnik, Russia had introduced a moratorium on the death penalty in accordance with principles of the European Union. This was done with the implication that, sooner or later, Russia and the EU would have closer integration, and open their borders and more opportunities for interaction.
"I believe that we do not have the right to take anyone's life even for the most serious crimes, and life imprisonment in our prisons, believe me, in my opinion, is a much worse punishment than execution," Lebedev said.
CIVILIZED SOCIETY'S ACHIEVEMENT
The Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's parliament, pointed out that Russia was a full-fledged member of the Council of Europe, which prohibits the death penalty.
"Just two weeks ago, PACE [the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe] celebrated the 17th anniversary of the complete moratorium on the death penalty in countries of the Council of Europe, and this moratorium is considered as one of the achievements of modern civilized society," Russian upper house lawmaker Alexander Bashkin told Sputnik.
According to him, Russia, as a full-fledged member of the Council of Europe, which participates in the work of all its bodies, fully shares this approach.
"Russia ... fully shares the ideas of this organization [the Council of Europe], which, as is well known, consistently and categorically opposes the death penalty," the senator said.
In his opinion, Russian society should not go back to discussing possibly lifting the moratorium.
"Unfortunately, sometimes because of their sad experience, individual citizens will always advocate a return to the death penalty, the lifting of the moratorium on it and this happens in different countries. But the views of some individuals and the views of civilized society about just retribution and its types are still differ," Bashkin said, adding that courts sometimes made mistakes and that life imprisonment, as a rule, was more terrifying than the death penalty.
According to Lebedev, after the moratorium was introduced in Russia, punishments for particularly serious crimes became tougher.
"Naturally, the victims want the maximum sentence for the offender, especially when it comes to children. On the other hand, people say that society should be humane and still has no right to take a person's life. On the third hand, they say that it is unclear what is best for the criminal the death penalty or life imprisonment in our prisons," the lawmaker said.
However, there have been attempts to return the death penalty. Such a bill was introduced in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, by deputies from the A Just Russia party.
"At the moment, the question of returning the death penalty is not on the agenda. If we talk about the party's position, the Just Russia faction introduced bills that proposed the return of the death penalty in only two cases for those who committed terrorist acts and for pedophiles whose actions led to the death of several children," Mikhail Emelyanov, the first deputy chair of A Just Russia party group in the lower house, told Sputnik.
According to him, the State Duma is considering the bill.
Emelyanov believed that the initiative would most likely not be approved since "the general mood of the elite is that the death penalty should be banned."
THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A DISCUSSION
According to Lebedev, the discussion around this issue will never end.
"I think that even in Europe this discussion still exists, especially in connection with, unfortunately, the increased number of terrorist attacks. Of course, the families of the victims and the dead want death for terrorists. But if we follow the principles of behavior in order to build relations with Europe and become a pan-European space from Lisbon to Vladivostok, then we have made certain commitments and must adhere to them," he noted.
The deputy also noted that the worst thing in politics was to rush from one decision to another; therefore, since Russia had already decided on the moratorium, it was necessary to stick with it.
