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
- NOVEMBER 15, 2007IraqDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIAN DUMA: SADDAM'S DEATH WON'T SOLVE IRAQ'S PROBLEMS
the lower house of Russian parliament warned the execution of Saddam Hussein could lead to a further escalation of violence in Iraq.
- OCTOBER 23, 2007RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA SHOULD BAN CAPITAL PUNISHMENT - FSIN DIRECTOR
the Director of the Federal Penitentiary Service Yuri Kalinin believes that Russia
- JULY 20, 2007RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIAN GETS DEATH PENALTY IN PAKISTAN
Akhlas Akhlak, a Russian man was sentenced to death for an assassination attempt on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
- MARCH 29, 2007RussiaDEATH PENALTY
PACE URGES RUSSIA TO ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY
monitors from the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly reiterated calls for Russia to abolish the death penalty, a commitment it undertook when it joined the body in 1996.
- MARCH 20, 2007RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA REGRETS EXECUTION OF IRAQ'S FORMER VICE PRESIDENT
the execution of former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan will not help restore stability in the country, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin told Interfax.
- FEBRUARY 12, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTY
DEATH PENALTY. RUSSIA SIGNS THE DECLARATION ON THE MORATORIUM
Russia has signed the "Declaration of Association" on the death penalty that was presented to the UN by the
- JANUARY 1, 2007RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russia is committed to abolishing the death penalty as a member of the Council of Europe
Russia is committed to abolishing the death penalty as a member of the Council of Europe
- DECEMBER 8, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIAN LAWMAKERS MOVE TO EXTEND MORATORIUM ON DEATH PENALTY
Russia’s Parliament extended a 10-year moratorium on the death penalty to 2010, an extension of three years, by delaying the introduction of juries in court cases in the rebellious republic of Chechnya.
- NOVEMBER 30, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
COUNCIL OF EUROPE URGES RUSSIA TO ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY
the Council of Europe will insist that Russia ratify Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights, so as to abolish the death penalty in the country.
- NOVEMBER 13, 2006IraqDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIAN MUSLIMS CONDEMN DEATH SENTENCE FOR SADDAM HUSSEIN
Russian Muslims joined ultranationalist lawmaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky in condemning the death sentence of former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein, saying his execution could destabilize the Muslim world.
- OCTOBER 25, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. UZBEK DEPORTED DESPITE APPEALS
Russia has deported an Uzbek man to his Central Asian homeland, defying pressure from activists who said he could face execution at home, his supporters said.
- JULY 27, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. EUROPEAN COURT CONDEMNS RUSSIA IN CHECHEN CASE
in a landmark ruling, the European Court of Human Rights found Russia had violated the "right to life" of Khadzimurat Yandiyev, a young Chechen who disappeared after a Russian general ordered him shot.
- JUNE 28, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. MOST RUSSIANS AGAINST ABOLISHMENT OF DEATH PENALTY, SPEAKER
Russia has not formally abolished the death penalty because such a move would not get the support of the majority of the population, the speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament said.
- JUNE 5, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. COUNCIL OF EUROPE WAITING FOR MOSCOW TO ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY
the Council of Europe is still waiting for Russia to abolish the death penalty, the Council's Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg said.
- MAY 29, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. LAVROV DENIES BACKTRACKING ON PLEDGE TO ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied that Russia is backtracking on its commitment to the Council of Europe to abolish capital punishment.
- MAY 29, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. RUSSIA DETERMINED TO ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY - GRYZLOV
Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov said Russia will abolish the death penalty sooner or later.
- MAY 26, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. BESLAN ATTACKER JAILED FOR LIFE
the sole surviving suspect from the Beslan school siege has been found guilty of murder and terrorism at a court in southern Russia.
- MAY 26, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. CE MEMBERSHIP AT RISK UNLESS DEATH PENALTY ABOLISHED IN 2006
Russia may be stripped of its membership in the Council of Europe if it fails to ratify the sixth protocol on the abolition of the death penalty this year, State Duma International Affairs Committee Chairman Konstantin Kosachyov told a news conference.
- MAY 19, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. MOSCOW TO SEEK RETURN OF DRUG DEALERS FACING EXECUTION IN CHINA
Russian parliamentarians will make every effort to achieve the return of two Russians arrested for drug dealing in China so they avoid the death penalty, said Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the State Duma's international affairs committee.
- MAY 18, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. VICTIMS DEMAND HARSH SENTENCE AGAINST BESLAN HOSTAGE-TAKER
relatives of those killed in the Beslan school massacre called for a harsh sentence -- even death -- as the reading out of a guilty verdict against the sole-surviving hostage-taker entered its third day.
- MAY 16, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. BESLAN REBEL COMMITTED TERRORISM, JUDGE
a Russian judge said the only surviving member of the group that seized a school and 1,300 hostages in the town of Beslan in 2004 had committed an act of terrorism, as he began reading his verdict in the trial.
- MAY 4, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. CONSTITUTIONAL BAN ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT TO EXPIRE IN 2007
Russia’s Human rights commissioner Vladimir Lukin said life imprisonment should become the maximum punishment in Russia. "Life imprisonment is worse than capital punishment everywhere in the world, and especially in Russian conditions," he said.
- APRIL 29, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. MP HOPES RUSSIA WILL ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY IN 2006
Pavel Krasheninnikov, chairman of the Russian State Duma's Legislation Committee...
- APRIL 28, 2006RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. FEDERATION COUNCIL MEMBER SUPPORTS DEATH PENALTY ABOLITION
the abolition of death penalty in Russia will help the extradition of criminals and terrorists, who are hiding abroad, Chairman of the Federation Council International Affairs Committee Mikhail Margelov said, referring to prospects for Russia’s ratificati
- 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.