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 31, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The verdict handed down by Saudi Arabia's Shariah Court...
The verdict handed down by Saudi Arabia's Shariah Court to the hijackers of a Russian aircraft suggests that the court practices double standards, the deputy head of the Russian governmental administration Alexei Volin stated
- JULY 29, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation will...
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation will be able to collect the number of signatures required for holding a referendum on crucial problems facing the country within one or two months, Communist leader Gennadiy Zyuganov told Ekho Moskvy radio
- JULY 23, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
An international human rights organisation accused...
An international human rights organisation accused the Russian military of a campaign of executions in Chechnya to deliberately reduce the break-away republic's male population
- JULY 23, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation intends...
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation intends to collect signatures for a petition to hold a referendum on the most important problems facing the country, Ivan Melnikov, deputy chairman of the party's Central Committee and a State Duma member, sai
- JULY 5, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The Kremlin is reckoning on the next Russian parliament...
The Kremlin is reckoning on the next Russian parliament to abolish the death penalty
- JUNE 20, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russian Ambassador to Tanzania Doku Zavgayev expressed...
Russian Ambassador to Tanzania Doku Zavgayev expressed certainty that two Russian citizens, Ivan Ochirov and Dmitry Kosyakov, sentenced to death for killing in 1997 a Russian teenager, fourteen-year-old Alexei Sotnikov, on Zanzibar (in the composition of
- JUNE 7, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The authorities of Zanzibar Island assured Russian...
The authorities of Zanzibar Island assured Russian Ambassador to Tanzania Doku Zavgayev that "two citizens of Russia sentenced to death will not be executed
- JUNE 7, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Mobile subunits of Chechen fighters entered the villages...
Mobile subunits of Chechen fighters entered the villages of Kotar-Yurt and Staryy Achkhoy on the night of 5-6 June and conducted a special operation against local traitors and accomplices of the occupying regime
- JUNE 7, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russia must retain the moratorium on the death penalty,...
Russia must retain the moratorium on the death penalty, Justice Minister Yuri Chaika told a news conference
- JUNE 5, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The death sentences given to two young Russians on...
The death sentences given to two young Russians on the island of Zanzibar (part of Tanzania) will not be carried out because there is a moratorium on the death penalty in this African state, the Russian ambassador to Tanzania Doku Zavgayev told ITAR-TASS
- JUNE 5, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Liberal politicians and human rights activists urged...
Liberal politicians and human rights activists urged for the passage of a bill that would allow independent inspections of prisons and visits to inmates, saying such visits would help root out prison abuses
- JUNE 5, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russia has appealed to Zanzibar to review a death sentence...
Russia has appealed to Zanzibar to review a death sentence passed by the Court of Appeal to its two citizens early in 2002 after being convicted of murdering a compatriot
- MAY 31, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russian Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov spoke...
Russian Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov spoke out categorically against abolishing the moratorium on the death penalty
- MAY 31, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
President Vladimir Putin roasted Russia's top cops...
President Vladimir Putin roasted Russia's top cops for failing to stem soaring crime and said corrupt officers must be chased out of the force
- MAY 27, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
In recent days there has been a noticeable increase...
In recent days there has been a noticeable increase in talk of lifting Russia's current moratorium on the death penalty
- MAY 24, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The Council of Europe has positively assessed changes...
The Council of Europe has positively assessed changes in Russia's penitentiary system, Deputy Justice Minister Yuri Kalinin said
- MAY 24, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The National Assembly of Dagestan has called for lifting...
The National Assembly of Dagestan has called for lifting the moratorium on the death penalty for persons committing especially grave crimes in Russia
- MAY 20, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The proposal of the death penalty as an effective anti-terrorism...
The proposal of the death penalty as an effective anti-terrorism instrument after the the May 9 terrorist act in Kaspiisk, Dagestan, caused a controversial reaction among North Caucasus leaders
- MAY 19, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
On May 18 when a group of men abducted a 36-year-old...
On May 18 when a group of men abducted a 36-year-old Chechen named Sinbarigov, who some villagers said worked for Russia's Federal Security Service
- MAY 17, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The North Ossetia parliament expressed support for...
The North Ossetia parliament expressed support for a statement issued by the Dagestani State Council that calls for lifting the moratorium on the death penalty in Russia
- MAY 16, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, answering a question...
Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, answering a question on the terrorist act in Kaspiisk, said: "The law says that the death penalty is not applied in our country
- MAY 16, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Field commander Abu al-Walid (who has replaced Khattab,...
Field commander Abu al-Walid (who has replaced Khattab, eliminated by the Russian special services) announced via the website of the Chechen guerrillas that crewmembers of a Mi-24 helicopter, servicemen of the North-Caucasus regional department of the Fed
- MAY 15, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch...
The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Alexi II believes the question of lifting the moratorium on the death penalty in Russia should be decided by legislators
- MAY 14, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The North Caucasus anti-terror headquarters confirmed...
The North Caucasus anti-terror headquarters confirmed it received reports on the execution of a person who might have eliminated the notorious [Chechen] terrorist Khattab
- MAY 14, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Chechen rebels have executed by a firing squad a man...
Chechen rebels have executed by a firing squad a man accused of murdering Khattab, a prominent rebel warlord of Arab origin
- MAY 13, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The identity of three people involved in the death...
The identity of three people involved in the death of Chechen commander Amir Khattab has been established, Chechen sources reported
- MAY 13, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The State Council and National Assembly of Dagestan...
The State Council and National Assembly of Dagestan will appeal to President Vladimir Putin and the State Duma to cancel the moratorium on the death penalty
- MAY 13, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russian human rights commissioner Oleg Mironov said...
Russian human rights commissioner Oleg Mironov said terrorist acts, horrendous as they are, cannot provide an argument for lifting the moratorium on the death penalty in Russia
- MAY 13, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The State Council of Dagestan resolved to appeal to...
The State Council of Dagestan resolved to appeal to President Vladimir Putin to lift the ban on capital punishment
- MAY 11, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Serial killer Yuri Ustimenko, was caught in Poland...
Serial killer Yuri Ustimenko, was caught in Poland earlier the week