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
- JULY 18, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. RF SHOULD RATIFY PROTOCOL ON DEATH PENALTY – MARGELOV
Russia should ratify the protocol on the death penalty, Chairman of the Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee Mikhail Margelov said.
- JULY 8, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. KUDRIN CALLS FOR REVIVAL OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR TERRORISTS
in responce to the explosions in London on July 7, Russian Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin said: “Terrorists are to be caught and brought before court
- JULY 5, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. SUPPORT FOR CAPITAL PUNISHMENT DECREASING, POLL
the number of supporters of capital punishment in Russia is steady on the descent, a Levada Center opinion poll found in the middle of June, having questioned 1,600 Russian men and women in 128 cities and communities in 46 regions.
- JUNE 22, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. HUMAN RIGHTS PROGRESS SLAMMED BY COUNCIL OF EUROPE
issuing a damning report on human rights and democracy in Russia, Europe's rights watchdog voted to pursue its monitoring of the country's rights situation.
- MAY 27, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
COUNCIL OF EUROPE. CE RIGHTS CHIEF CALLS ON RUSSIA TO OUTLAW DEATH PENALTY
Russia is the only member country of the Council of Europe not to have legally abolished the death penalty...
- MAY 27, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. DEPUTY SEEKS LAW ON RUSSIA'S REJECTION OF DEATH PENALTY
State Duma legislative committee chief Pavel Krasheninnikov called on the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament to adopt a bill that would confirm the abolition of the death penalty in Russia.
- MAY 27, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. RUSSIA TOO QUICK WITH DEATH PENALTY MORATORIUM IT CAN'T REVOKE, PARLIAMENTARIAN
Russia was too quick to introduce its capital punishment moratorium, Vladimir Vasilyev, State Duma member, told a news conference.
- MAY 18, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. SENIOR MP URGES ABOLITION OF DEATH PENALTY AHEAD OF PACE SESSION
the head of the Federation Council international affairs committee, Mikhail Margelov, said it was necessary to finalize the ratification of the sixth protocol of the Convention on Human Rights on abolishing the death penalty by the end of June 2005.
- APRIL 20, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russian Federation was a cosponsor and voted in favour of the resolution on the death penalty at the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights.
Russian Federation was a cosponsor and voted in favour of the resolution on the death penalty at the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights.
- MARCH 30, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. CONVICTED MURDERER PREFERS EXECUTION TO ROTTING IN JAIL
terrorised by the idea of staying behind bars for the rest of his life, Sergei Deineko, a Russian man convicted of six brutal murders turned to the Supreme Court with the unique appeal to cancel the pardon which replaced his death penalty with a life term
- FEBRUARY 25, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Speaker of the Federation Council (FC) upper house of the Russian parliament...
Speaker of the Federation Council (FC) upper house of the Russian parliament Sergei Mironov said he was "categorically opposed" to lifting the moratorium on death penalties.
- FEBRUARY 25, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russia’s Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Kolesnikov advocated...
Russia’s Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Kolesnikov advocated...
- FEBRUARY 25, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russian Justice Minister Yuri Chaika said he was opposed...
Russian Justice Minister Yuri Chaika said he was opposed to the idea to lift the moratorium on death penalties in the country.
- FEBRUARY 14, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. COUNCIL OF EUROPE INSISTS ON MONITORING HUMAN RIGHTS IN COUNTRY
setting the stage for another spat between Western-run rights and democracy groups and Moscow, the Council of Europe's Secretary General Terry Davis said ahead of talks with Russian officials that Moscow still lacked respect for human rights.
- FEBRUARY 11, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. DUMA COMMITTEE AGAINST REINSTATING THE DEATH PENALTY
the Russian State Duma legislation committee would not support an initiative by a number of deputies to reinstate the death penalty in Russia.
- FEBRUARY 11, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
the Council of the Duma recommended to put on the chamber's agenda...
the Council of the Duma recommended to put on the chamber's agenda...
- FEBRUARY 10, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
the Russian State Duma Council's decision to back plans to put...
the Russian State Duma Council's decision to back plans to put...
- JANUARY 1, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russia is committed to abolishing the death penalty as a member of the Council of Europe (since February 28, 1996).
Russia is committed to abolishing the death penalty as a member of the Council of Europe (since February 28, 1996).
- OCTOBER 22, 2004RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Chairman of the State Duma Security Committee Vladimir...
Chairman of the State Duma Security Committee Vladimir Vasilyev said the country should not hurry with the annulment of the death penalty moratorium
- OCTOBER 6, 2004RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the Russian State...
Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the Russian State Duma Committee for Foreign Affairs, said that the Russian delegation didn't intend to raise the question of introduction of the death penalty for terrorists at the current regular "We've discussed the iss
- SEPTEMBER 29, 2004RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Signatures in support for death penalty for terrorists...
Signatures in support for death penalty for terrorists and their accomplices began to be collected in the Kemerovo Region of Russia
- SEPTEMBER 22, 2004RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russia's State Duma rejected a proposal to revive the...
Russia's State Duma rejected a proposal to revive the death penalty following the Beslan massacre, the Moscow Times reported
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2004RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Sergey Ivanov, the first deputy chairman of the Federation...
Sergey Ivanov, the first deputy chairman of the Federation Council's commission for cooperation with the Audit Chamber, said that he did not approve of the idea of reinstating the death penalty in Russia, commenting on the respective proposal of some depu
- SEPTEMBER 16, 2004RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The issue of sentencing terrorists to death needed...
The issue of sentencing terrorists to death needed serious debate, State Duma Chairman Boris Gryzlov told reporters
- SEPTEMBER 14, 2004RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The Duma would not consider lifting the moratorium...
The Duma would not consider lifting the moratorium on the death penalty in Russia, first deputy head of its committee for criminal and civil law Valery Grebennikov (United Russia) said, adding that in 1996, Russia joined the Council of Europe convention w
- SEPTEMBER 10, 2004RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The parliament of the Russian internal republic of...
The parliament of the Russian internal republic of North Ossetia called for reinstatement of capital punishment in Russia
- SEPTEMBER 10, 2004RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The Russian lower house of parliament, the State Duma,...
The Russian lower house of parliament, the State Duma, had not ruled out the possibility of lifting the 1996 moratorium on death penalty and discussed it among other proposals to strengthen security after the terrorist attack in Beslan
- SEPTEMBER 1, 2004RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Several members of the upper house of the Russian parliament,...
Several members of the upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, supported the idea to impose death penalty on terrorists
- JUNE 30, 2004RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Two Russian men were sentenced to life in prison on...
Two Russian men were sentenced to life in prison on charges of complicity in the assassination of Chechen separatist Zelimkhan Yandarbiev
- JUNE 10, 2004RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Leaders of Central Asian governments gathered in the...
Leaders of Central Asian governments gathered in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe for a two-day conference entitled "The Death Penalty and the Right to Live