RUSSIA: PACE PRESIDENT URGES DUMA TO RATIFY DEATH PENALTY BAN PROTOCOL

PACE president Rene van der Linden called upon the State Duma lower house of the Russian parliament to ratify Protocol # 6 (on death penalty ban) and Protocol # 14 (on procedures of the European court of human rights). It would be an excellent start for the 5th State Duma, Rene van der Linden told a news conference. Russia, which has observed a death penalty moratorium since 1996, has extended its own death penalty moratorium up to 2010 despite numerous public calls to restore executions. The country suspended executions in August 1996. After joining the Council of Europe in February 1996, Russia pledged to stop executions and adopt a law abrogating capital punishment. In June 1999, the Russian president signed a decree replacing all the 700 death sentences with life imprisonment. Russia therefore does not have a single death row inmate at present.