The head of Russia’s top criminal investigation agency on Friday urged President Vladimir Putin to lift the moratorium on the death penalty.
And it was Russia It suspended the death penalty in 1996, as a prerequisite for joining the Council of Europe, the human rights organization from which it was expelled after its invasion of Ukraine.
Since then, calls have increased from lawmakers and Putin’s supporters to lift the suspension of the sentence imposed on the perpetrators of the attack on a concert hall near Moscow last March, which killed more than 140 people.
“We must consider lifting the moratorium on the implementation of the death penalty,” Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Russian Investigative Committee, told a legal forum in St. Petersburg on Friday.
He added: “In some cases it should be applied, and I support the death penalty in these cases.”
Bastrykin noted that Putin could lift the moratorium by decree.
He continued: “Some competent and qualified lawyers told me that we need to change the constitution and hold a referendum, but I believe that we should simply lift the moratorium on the implementation of the death penalty by presidential decree.”
Last March, Russian Parliament Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin indicated that the temporary suspension should be overturned by the Russian Constitutional Court.
If Putin reinstates the death penalty, the legal mechanism will be merely a formality.
Three months ago, his spokesman said the Kremlin was “not participating in these discussions at the moment.”
Russian criminal law stipulates the death penalty, but it has not been used for more than 25 years.
Former President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, has also proposed reintroducing the death penalty for the most serious crimes.
Critics have expressed concern about the proposal, citing fears that the Kremlin could use it as a deterrent against the opposition or political opponents.