leading Russian human rights organizations believe Russia should completely abolish the death penalty

leading Russian human rights organizations believe Russia should completely abolish the death penalty. "As far as I know, all countries in Europe have already abolished the death penalty. Why not join the good company?" Lyudmila ALexeyeva, the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, told Interfax. Russia has observed a death penalty moratorium since 1996. "Not a moratorium but the full abolition of the death penalty - this was our obligation when we joined the Council of Europe. If we don't honor this obligation, we will be expelled from there. Do we want to be expelled from the Council of Europe for the sake of having the right to execute?" Alexeyeva said. Another veteran of the Russian human rights movement, Lev Ponomaryov, the leader of the organization For Human Rights, shares this view. "The introduction of the death penalty moratorium was a very important step for the Russian leadership," Ponomaryov said. However, he called for doing away with the death penalty even though this could be negatively taken by the public. The death penalty should be absolutely abolished if only because there is the danger of judicial mistakes, Ponomaryov said. "I believe this one argument is enough," he said.