The State Duma (lower house) will consider a bill for...

The State Duma (lower house) will consider a bill for the abolition of capital punishment in Russia in January 2002, legislation committee chairman Pavel Krasheninnikov said.
The committee for legislation advised the Duma to adopt the bill proposed by the Union of Right-Wing Forces that excludes capital punishment from the Criminal Code. The committee also advised the law-makers to ratify Protocol 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights that prohibits capital punishment in peace time, Krasheninnikov said in the wake of the international conference "Russia without Capital Punishment".
The conference, organized by the Duma's Legislative Committee and the Committee for Links with NGOs and Religious Organizations, revealed mixed reactions to the idea of capital punishment abolition.
Supreme Court judge Tamara Meshcheryakova and Human Rights Commissioner Oleg Mironov called for its early abolition, while the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party and Deputy Speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky urged public execution of the Chechen militants' ring-leaders. The head of the People's Deputy Group Gennady Raikov urged the abolition of the moratorium on capital punishment. Eighty five percent of the population would say capital punishment must stay, if a referendum on the issue were held, Raikov said.
The first deputy leader of the Fatherland-All Russia (OVR) faction Konstantin Kosachev said he was for the abolition of capital punishment in principle, but introducing it now would be premature.
"We should be in no hurry to make this decision," he said.