Putin again rules out return of death penalty in Russia
Russia is not seeking to reintroduce capital punishment and will continue to liberalize its penal code in order to reduce the number of convicts, President Vladimir Putin has said.
Putin made the remarks on Tuesday while speaking during a meeting of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, a consultative body tasked with assisting the country’s leader in protecting human rights and freedoms. Moscow’s stance on the death penalty remains unchanged even in the wake of the Ukraine conflict, Putin reiterated.
“We live in the reality of a special military operation and do not introduce the death penalty at all, despite the fact that, I assure you, and you probably know this, a considerable number of our citizens and political figures constantly raise this issue,” Putin stated.
Despite the ongoing “quite serious military action,” the Russian government continues to “make decisions to increase the humaneness of our justice system,” he added. In particular, Russia continues its effort to reduce the number of people incarcerated, Putin said.
Russia introduced a moratorium on the death penalty back in 1997 when it joined the Council of Europe. The last execution in the country was carried out the previous year. However, capital punishment was never fully abolished, and various Russian politicians and public figures have suggested lifting the moratorium.
Talk of bringing back the death penalty was reinvigorated last year in the wake of Russia’s withdrawal from the Council of Europe. Moscow said the organization had been hijacked by the collective West to promote its interests rather than to serve its original goals.
