RUSSIAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS INSIST ON ABOLISHING DEATH PENALTY IN RUSSIA

Lev Ponomaryov, a veteran human rights activist and the leader of the movement For Human Rights, believes Russia should not delay the full abolition of the death penalty. "All human rights activists are proponents of the abolition of the death penalty. This is our principled position," Ponomaryov told Interfax. "Europe is doing the right thing by demanding that we completely abolish the death penalty. In doing so, it wants to make sure that the death penalty cannot be reinstated in Russia," Ponomaryov said. Svetlana Gannushkina, the head of the Civil Assistance human rights committee, said "I favor the absolute abolition of the death penalty. Even if our justice system were ideal and a judicial mistake were absolutely impossible, even then society should not assume such a responsibility as taking somebody's life. This is extremely harmful, primarily for society itself. No matter how much a criminal is, he should be held in jail."