Russian human rights commissioner Oleg Mironov said...

Russian human rights commissioner Oleg Mironov said terrorist acts, horrendous as they are, cannot provide an argument for lifting the moratorium on the death penalty in Russia.
Speaking on the Ekho Moskvy radio, Mironov commented on the Dagestani State Council's decision to ask President Vladimir Putin to lift the moratorium on capital punishment in connection with the May 9 terrorist act in Kaspiysk, Dagestan.
"We can understand the feelings of people after the terrible tragedy", he said, but Russia must fulfil its obligations to the Council of Europe regarding the abolition of the death penalty.
"The State Council's appeal is an emotional act, an act of indignation. But from the legal point of view, it cannot cancel the resolution of the Russian Constitutional Court, and the Constitutional Court itself cannot cancel its resolution (rejecting the death penalty) either", Mironov said.