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
- MAY 10, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The number of victims of the May 9 terrorist act, committed...
The number of victims of the May 9 terrorist act, committed in Kaspiisk reached 39, said Daghestan Deputy Public Health Minister Dzhamalutdin Gasayev
- MAY 6, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russia would vote in favor of the abolition of capital...
Russia would vote in favor of the abolition of capital punishment if all other countries followed suit, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko told Interfax
- APRIL 30, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Ayub Paikayev, who exposed links between Georgian power...
Ayub Paikayev, who exposed links between Georgian power ministries and Chechen fighters, was reportedly tried by Shari'ah law and executed in the Pankisi Gorge
- APRIL 25, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russia was a cosponsor and voted for the resolution...
Russia was a cosponsor and voted for the resolution 2002/77 on the death penalty at the 58th UN Commission on Human Rights
- APRIL 25, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Federation Council's Speaker Sergey Mironov supports...
Federation Council's Speaker Sergey Mironov supports life sentences without the right to be pardoned as an alternative to the death penalty
- APRIL 23, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The Council of Europe welcomed progress on human rights...
The Council of Europe welcomed progress on human rights in Russia but said more should be done in a number of key areas
- APRIL 23, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
An appeals court in Zanzibar, Tanzania, sentenced two...
An appeals court in Zanzibar, Tanzania, sentenced two Russians to the death penalty
- APRIL 22, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russia is ready to join the convention on the abolition...
Russia is ready to join the convention on the abolition of the death penalty, Federation Council speaker Sergey Mironov said in Strasbourg taking part in a PACE [Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe] session
- APRIL 19, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russia escaped censure of its war record in Chechnya...
Russia escaped censure of its war record in Chechnya when the UN commission on human rights defeated a motion condemning it for alleged summary executions, torture and other violations
- APRIL 19, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Secretary General of the European Council Walter Schwimmer...
Secretary General of the European Council Walter Schwimmer has expressed concern about statements by some Russian public figures for reinstating the death penalty
- APRIL 17, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Alexander Zdanovich, Director of the Directorate of...
Alexander Zdanovich, Director of the Directorate of Programs of Assistance to the Federal Security Service, said the federal troops captured Aslan Maskhadov's archive in a special operation in Cechnya
- APRIL 15, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
A number of Russian renowned scientists, writers and...
A number of Russian renowned scientists, writers and public figures have sent a letter to the State Duma, calling for the abolition of the death penalty
- APRIL 9, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The Russian judiciary community will support the abolition...
The Russian judiciary community will support the abolition of the death penalty
- APRIL 7, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he will not repeal...
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he will not repeal the moratorium on the death penalty currently in place
- MARCH 27, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council...
The chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Peter Schieder, has urged Russia and Europe to unite their efforts in combating terrorism
- MARCH 25, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russia said its forces had killed more than 12,000...
Russia said its forces had killed more than 12,000 rebels in separatist Chechnya since returning to the region in 1999, but rights groups called the figures grossly exaggerated
- MARCH 20, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Council of Europe Secretary General Walter Schwimmer...
Council of Europe Secretary General Walter Schwimmer said he is concerned over the renewed discussion of death sentences and executions in Russia
- MARCH 20, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
PACE [Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe]...
PACE [Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe] chairman Peter Shider believes that everything achieved in Russia through its Council of Europe membership outweighs any negative factors
- MARCH 15, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The Rostov regional legislature passed a resolution...
The Rostov regional legislature passed a resolution demanding renunciation of the moratorium on capital punishment
- MARCH 13, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
More than 100 prominent Russians, including world chess...
More than 100 prominent Russians, including world chess champion Anatoly Karpov and holder of the Nobel Prize for physics Zhores Alfyorov, urged President Vladimir Putin to reinstate the death penalty
- MARCH 13, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The State Duma rejected the Liberal Democratic Party-drafted...
The State Duma rejected the Liberal Democratic Party-drafted call for President Vladimir Putin to renounce Protocol No
- MARCH 13, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russian President Vladimir Putin has reiterated his...
Russian President Vladimir Putin has reiterated his strong opposition to the death penalty
- MARCH 6, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov, leader of the Union of Right...
Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov, leader of the Union of Right Forces (SPS) speaking at the press centre of the Central House of Journalists, said: "The Duma constantly debates whether drug dealers should be hanged or jailed for life
- MARCH 1, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
State Duma Legislation Committee Chairman Pavel Krasheninnikov...
State Duma Legislation Committee Chairman Pavel Krasheninnikov said during a press conference: "We planned to have the debate in March, but now we will put it off to a later date
- FEBRUARY 21, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Alexei...
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Alexei Gromov told journalists that Putin's position on the abolition of capital punishment has not changed
- FEBRUARY 20, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
President Vladimir Putin met with the head of the People's...
President Vladimir Putin met with the head of the People's Deputy group in the State Duma, Gennady Raikov
- FEBRUARY 19, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
A protest rally on an unprecedented scale has been...
A protest rally on an unprecedented scale has been going on since February 12 in Tsotsin-Yurt, a Chechen website reported
- FEBRUARY 18, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russian Federation Council Chairman Sergei Mironov...
Russian Federation Council Chairman Sergei Mironov has spoken in favor of the soonest possible ratification of protocol No
- FEBRUARY 18, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Analysts at the presidential state law department said...
Analysts at the presidential state law department said that The Russian president has no power to lift the moratorium from the death penalty
- FEBRUARY 18, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed his...
Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed his stance on the use of capital punishment in Russia and noted that he favoured its abolition