RUSSIA. CONSTITUTIONAL BAN ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT TO EXPIRE IN 2007

Russia’s Human rights commissioner Vladimir Lukin said life imprisonment should become the maximum punishment in Russia. "Life imprisonment is worse than capital punishment everywhere in the world, and especially in Russian conditions," he said.
Russia's death rows are empty now, but they may receive their first inmates very soon, said Yuri Kastanov, board chairman of the Moscow Bar. The Constitutional Court's ban on the passing of capital sentences will expire in 2007, when juries will be created in Chechnya.
Lev Ponomarev, the leader of the public movement For Human Rights, said deputies did not want to outlaw capital punishment for fear of losing voter support. "There is a contradiction between the authorities' populist policies and their obligations to Europe," he said. "The idea of outlawing capital punishment is not popular."
According to the Levada-Center polling firm, in June 2005 65% of Russians disapproved of banning capital punishment, and only 25% were in favor of such a move. The pollster's head Yuri Levada said "people think that cruel punishment can prevent cruel crimes, which is a grave mistake."