Russia
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Moratorium on executions
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · In 1996, the then President Boris Yeltsin imposed a...
- News items in the archive
- 461
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Russia is classified as Moratorium on executions in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 461 news items on Russia, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- DECEMBER 10, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russia's human rights commissioner called for the death...
Russia's human rights commissioner called for the death penalty to be abolished in accordance with requirements of the Council of Europe, of which Russia is a member
- DECEMBER 10, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The State Duma (lower house) will consider a bill for...
The State Duma (lower house) will consider a bill for the abolition of capital punishment in Russia in January 2002, legislation committee chairman Pavel Krasheninnikov said
- DECEMBER 10, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russian Justice Minister Yuri Chaika ruled out the...
Russian Justice Minister Yuri Chaika ruled out the death sentence for Salman Raduyev, who is currently facing terrorism charges in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala
- DECEMBER 6, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The Council of Europe would not approve of a death...
The Council of Europe would not approve of a death sentence for suspected Chechen terrorist Salman Raduyev, who is currently being tried in Makhachkala, PACE rapporteur on Chechnya Lord Judd said in an interview with Interfax
- DECEMBER 4, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
A Civil Forum attended by representatives of all 22...
A Civil Forum attended by representatives of all 22 organizations comprising the Russian Democratic Conference on November 21 and 22 adopted two documents
- NOVEMBER 26, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
A committee of Russia's lower house of parliament said...
A committee of Russia's lower house of parliament said that it planned to propose replacing death with life imprisonment as the penalty for murder, high treason and other serious crimes
- NOVEMBER 15, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The Kyrgyz military tribunal confirmed the death penalty...
The Kyrgyz military tribunal confirmed the death penalty handed down earlier to two guerrilla members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
- NOVEMBER 15, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
A group of about 30 women staged a protest outside...
A group of about 30 women staged a protest outside the courtroom in Russia's southern republic of Dagestan where Chechen warlord Salman Raduyev and three others were being tried on terrorist charges, Russia TV reported
- NOVEMBER 15, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The Chairman of the Committee on security at the State...
The Chairman of the Committee on security at the State Duma lower house of parliament, Alexander Gurov, called the trial of [Chechen warlord] Salman Raduyev at the Dagestan Supreme Court, the first high-profile court procedure against a terrorist leader
- NOVEMBER 15, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The most important Chechen guerrilla leader ever captured...
The most important Chechen guerrilla leader ever captured by Russian forces smiled at his accusers from the dock at the start of his trial
- NOVEMBER 14, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Chechen guerrillas executed a Russian hostage after...
Chechen guerrillas executed a Russian hostage after Moscow declined to swap him for Chechens arrested earlier by federal forces, the Chechen rebel website Kavkaz
- OCTOBER 31, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The Russian prosecution service will implement the...
The Russian prosecution service will implement the lifting of the moratorium on the death penalty if the State Duma passes legislation to this effect, First Deputy Prosecutor General Yuri Biryukov told the Duma
- OCTOBER 26, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
It is necessary to toughen punishment for drug trafficking...
It is necessary to toughen punishment for drug trafficking and drug-related crimes up to the life in prison and the death penalty, said participants during hearings at the State Duma
- OCTOBER 9, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Seven residents of the Staryye Atagi village had been...
Seven residents of the Staryye Atagi village had been sentenced to capital punishment by guerrilla leaders, a spokesman for the district administration told Interfax-Military News Agency
- OCTOBER 9, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
European justice ministers representing Council of...
European justice ministers representing Council of Europe member countries and observers, proposed an action plan to combat terrorism at the end of their 24th Conference held in Moscow on October 4 and 5
- OCTOBER 5, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russia is ready to cooperate in the search for and...
Russia is ready to cooperate in the search for and punishment of international terrorists, Dmitry Kozak, deputy head of the presidential administration said in Washington, where he was holding meetings with the US Congress and Supreme Court
- OCTOBER 4, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The 24th conference of European Justice Ministers opened...
The 24th conference of European Justice Ministers opened in Moscow
- OCTOBER 3, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Political writer and scientist Leonid Radzikhovsky...
Political writer and scientist Leonid Radzikhovsky said Russia not only has vast experience of combating terrorism but it has much more political will and resolve in the actual struggle than the West
- SEPTEMBER 29, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The People's Deputy party, reorganized and renamed...
The People's Deputy party, reorganized and renamed as the People's Party of the Russian Federation, expressed support for President Vladimir Putin's efforts to unite the country at a party conference
- SEPTEMBER 19, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The People's Deputy Group in the State Duma reiterated...
The People's Deputy Group in the State Duma reiterated its call for the reinstatement of capital punishment
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The first deputy chairperson of the Russian State Duma,...
The first deputy chairperson of the Russian State Duma, Lyubov Sliska, said many [State Duma] deputies believe that those guilty of large-scale drug trafficking or acts of terrorism leading to the death of dozen thousands of people should be given the de
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
A Chechen deputy in the State Duma lower house of parliament...
A Chechen deputy in the State Duma lower house of parliament said that he did not believe possible raids by the USA on Afghanistan would contribute to successful fight against international terrorism
- SEPTEMBER 15, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Mojahedin from the special purpose Islamic detachment,...
Mojahedin from the special purpose Islamic detachment, commanded by Movsar Barayev, killed a national traitor in Argun
- SEPTEMBER 6, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovskiy called...
Nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovskiy called for the death penalty to be reintroduced in Russia for drug traders
- SEPTEMBER 3, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The Chelyabinsk regional legislature submitted draft...
The Chelyabinsk regional legislature submitted draft legislation to the State Duma that would make systematic use of narcotics a criminal offence
- JULY 27, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The health minister in the rebel Chechen administration,...
The health minister in the rebel Chechen administration, Umar Khanbiyev, who was himself taken prisoner by the Russian forces in Chechnya and tortured, has drawn up a list of the most commonly-used methods of torture employed by the federal forces both in
- JULY 17, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The European Union praised Russia's President Vladimir...
The European Union praised Russia's President Vladimir Putin for upholding a moratorium on the death penalty
- JULY 17, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The head of the country's Pardons Commission was quoted...
The head of the country's Pardons Commission was quoted as saying that the moratorium on the death penalty in Russia, imposed despite strong public opposition, has not triggered a rise in crime
- JULY 16, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Viktor Pokhmelkin, a member of the Union of Rightist...
Viktor Pokhmelkin, a member of the Union of Rightist Forces (SPS), welcomed Vladimir Putin's statement that the death penalty will agian come into force in Russia
- JULY 13, 2001RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The British Embassy [in Russia] said it "welcomes and...
The British Embassy [in Russia] said it "welcomes and fully approves" President Vladimir Putin's view that the execution of death sentences on the territory of Russia is unacceptable