Russia
2026
- GOVERNMENT
- semi-presidential federation
- CONSTITUTION
- December 12, 1993
- LEGAL SYSTEM
- based on civil law
- LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
- bicameral; Federation Council (Soviet Federatsii) and State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma)
- JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- Constitutional Court; Supreme Court; the Federation Council appoints judges for life, on the recommendation of the Head of State
RELIGIONS
15-20% Russian Orthodox; 10-15% Muslims; 2% Christians
From the country
- APRIL 5, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. COUNCIL OF EUROPE URGES RUSSIA TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
the Council of Europe's envoys urged Russia to fulfill its pledge to abolish the death penalty as it prepared to take over the rotating presidency in the continent's top human rights body.
- MARCH 22, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. OFFICIAL AGAINST EXECUTIONS
Chairman of the Russian Federation Council, Sergei Mironov, uttered his support to the banning of executions in Russia.
- MARCH 10, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. RUSSIAN COURTS HAVE NO RIGHT TO PASS DEATH SENTENCES, SUPREME COURT CHAIRMAN
Russian courts have no right to pass death sentences, Supreme Court Chairman Vyacheslav Lebedev said. “My attitude to the death penalty has been well known since 1998, when we signed European conventions. We have no right to sentence convicts to death,
- MARCH 9, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. ‘VOICE OF BESLAN’ AGAINST BRINGING BACK DEATH PENALTY
the public organization ‘The Voice of Beslan’ objected to the idea of suspending the death penalty moratorium currently in force in Russia.
- MARCH 4, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
COUNCIL OF EUROPE. COE HEAD URGES RUSSIA TO ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY
the secretary-general of the Council of Europe Terry Davis urged Russia to abolish death penalty.
- FEBRUARY 28, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. MORATORIUM ON DEATH PENALTY SHOULD BE LIFTED, COMMUNIST PARTY LEADER
Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov assessed Russia's membership of the Council of Europe as positive, but suggested that Russia should lift its moratorium on the death penalty in the near future.
- FEBRUARY 24, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. RUSSIANS IN FAVOUR OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, POLL
seventy-four percent of Russian citizens interviewed in a survey said they considered death sentences acceptable, 15% took the opposite view, and ten per cent were undecided.
- FEBRUARY 17, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. BESLAN ATTACKER SHOULD BE SENTENCED TO DEATH - NORTH OSSETIAN LEADER
Nurpashi Kulayev, the sole surviving member of the group that seized Beslan school No. 1 in September 2004, deserves the death penalty, North Ossetian leader Taimuraz Mamsurov said.
- FEBRUARY 16, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. BESLAN SUSPECT'S LAWYER APPEALS FOR 'FAIR' SENTENCE AMID CALLS FOR EXECUTION
the lawyer for the only surviving alleged member of the Chechen commando unit responsible for the 2004 Beslan school massacre appealed for a "fair" verdict for his client.
- FEBRUARY 14, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. BESLAN MOTHERS CALL FOR RESTORING DEATH PENALTY IN RUSSIA
the Beslan Mothers, a group of women who lost their children in the deadly school siege of 2004 in Russia’s southern province near Chechnya, called for restoration of death penalty.
- FEBRUARY 9, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. PUTIN'S HUMAN RIGHTS ADVISOR URGES DEATH PENALTY ABOLITION
Russia should abolish the death penalty in the near future, presidential council for civil society and human rights development Chairman Ella Pamfilova said.
- FEBRUARY 9, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. RUSSIA ASKS DEATH PENALTY FOR BESLAN HOSTAGE-TAKER
Deputy Prosecutor-General Nikolai Shepel asked judges to pass the death penalty on the sole surviving hostage-taker from the 2004 Beslan school massacre that killed more than 300 people, half of them children.