Russia's lower house of parliament raised the problem...

Russia's lower house of parliament raised the problem of the presidential commission for pardons.
The first deputy leader of the Union of Right Forces faction Viktor Pokhmelkin proposed that the Duma Committee for Legislation investigate the reasons why the commission has actually terminated its work. He argued that this was the result of "pressure from the law-enforcement agencies which are acting at the connivance of the Russian leaders." He also said that the same forces that are trying to slow down the judiciary reform are involved here.
Communist deputy Yuri Nikiforenko said, responding to Pokhmelkin's criticism, that the presidential commission for pardons "was overly soft-hearted." What this commission was doing, he said, is "the state's surrender to the criminal world, not a manifestation of clemency."
Most Russians support the preservation of capital punishment and "we must heed the voice of the majority," Nikiforenko said.