On February 2, the Constitutional Court ordered judges...

On February 2, the Constitutional Court ordered judges across the country to stop imposing death sentences until Parliament finds a way to guarantee a jury trial for all capital cases. The Court, whose decisions cannot be appealed and take force immediately, urged Parliament to enshrine the move into law as soon as possible. "Starting today, we effectively have no death penalty," said Constitutional Court Spokeswoman Anna Malysheva. "The Government doesn't even have money to maintain the court, and the jury system is an expensive luxury. It will be put off for many years to come, I think," she said. "Until citizens across Russia are guaranteed that all capital cases will be considered by a court with a jury, the courts have no right to impose death sentences, because that would violate the equality of the people before the court," Judge Olga Khokhryakova said, after pronouncing the above ruling. Human rights activists in Russia and abroad said the court's decision effectively abolished the death penalty, but urged Russia to go one step further and permanently ban capital punishment. The Russian Constitution says trials of crimes that carry the death penalty should be heard by juries, but only 9 out of Russia's 89 regions have such a system. Russia's Justice Ministry said about 150 people a year are given the death sentence, which is then replaced by a life sentence. By 2000, the number of lifers could reach 1,300, which would make it necessary to construct at least 4 high-security prisons at a cost of around Rub 580 million ($23 million). Analysts say for the time being such an investment is unlikely and that prisons will become even more crowded. Renate Wohlwend, the Council of Europe's death penalty expert, said: "I hope this decision reflects a commitment to abandoning the death penalty once and for all. I would point out that this announcement comes only just ahead of the deadline given for Russia's undertaking to abolish the death penalty."