Status: de facto abolitionist

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The Constitution of the Russian Federation provides for the death penalty, until its abolition, as an exceptional punishment for especially grave crimes against life.(Art. 20 (2) of the Constitution of the RF, 1993) The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation envisages the death penalty for five crimes: murder with aggravating circumstances, assassination attempt against a state or public figure, attempt on the life of a person administering justice or preliminary investigations, attempt on the life of a law-enforcement officer, and genocide.(Articles 105 (2), 277, 295, 317, and 357 of the Criminal Code, 1996)

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Status: de facto abolitionist

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The Constitution of the Russian Federation provides for the death penalty, until its abolition, as an exceptional punishment for especially grave crimes against life.(Art. 20 (2) of the Constitution of the RF, 1993) The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation envisages the death penalty for five crimes: murder with aggravating circumstances, assassination attempt against a state or public figure, attempt on the life of a person administering justice or preliminary investigations, attempt on the life of a law-enforcement officer, and genocide.(Articles 105 (2), 277, 295, 317, and 357 of the Criminal Code, 1996)

Upon accession to the Council of Europe on 28 February 1996, the Russian Federation committed itself to introducing a moratorium on executions and to ratifying Protocol No. 6 to the ECHR within three years. A presidential decree was issued on 16 May 1996 that requested the government to draft legislation on ratification of Protocol No. 6 (Presidential Decree No. 724 “On the gradual decrease of the application of the death penalty in connection with accession to the Council of Europe”) A draft law was submitted to Parliament on 6 August 1999. As of 30 June 2007, the Russian Federation had still not ratified Protocol No. 6.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has continuously urged the Russian Federation to abolish the death penalty and to conclude its ratification of Protocol No. 6 to the ECHR.(Resolution 1277, 23 April 2002; Parliamentary Assembly session: 24 to 30 June 2006, 29 June 2006) The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe has called on the Russian Federation to ratify Protocol No. 6 to the ECHR as soon as possible.(Report by Mr. Alvaro Gil-Robles, Commissioner for Human Rights, on his visits to the Russian Federation on 15 to 30 July 2004, and from 19 to 29 September 2004, document CommDH(2005)2 of 20 April 2005)

The Russian Federation confirms that the legislative abolition of the death penalty is one of the goals of the juridical and legal reforms currently under way and that government departments are currently engaged in intensive preparations for the State Duma’s ratification of Protocol No. 6 and the introduction of the relevant amendments and additions to the Criminal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Criminal Execution Code of the Russian Federation.(Comments by the Government of the Russian Federation to the concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee, U.N. Doc. CCPR/CO/79/RUS/Add.1, 2 February 2005, para. 11)

Moratorium

In 1996, the president instituted a moratorium on both the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty.(Presidential Decree No. 724, op. cit., note 70) Furthermore, a ruling of the Constitutional Court placed a temporary prohibition on the passage of death sentences on 2 February 1999. On 15 November 2006, the State Duma extended the moratorium on the death penalty by three years, until early 2010.

The Russian Constitution guarantees the right to trial by jury in cases where the death penalty is a potential sentence.(Art. 20 (2) of the Constitution) Accordingly, the Constitutional Court adopted a resolution prohibiting the passage of death sentences until such time as jury trials are introduced throughout the Russian Federation. At the time of the resolution, jury trials were available in only nine of Russia’s 89 constituent entities. The introduction of jury trials will remove the bar that the Constitutional Court has placed upon the passage of death sentences.

The UN Human Rights Committee has expressed its concern that the current moratorium will automatically end once the jury system has been introduced and has called upon the Russian Federation to abolish the death penalty de jure before the expiration of the moratorium and to accede to the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR.(Concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee: Russian Federation, 6 November 2003, U.N. Doc. CCPR/CO/79/RUS, 6 November 2003, para. 11)

On 3 June 1999, the president commuted the sentences of all individuals on death row to either life or 25 years’ imprisonment.

Method of execution

Shooting (Art. 186 of the Criminal Execution Code)

Statistics

Death sentences

None

Executions

None

International Safeguards

Pregnant women and minors

Women and individuals who were below the age of 18 at the time of the crime cannot be sentenced to death. (Art. 59 (2) of the Criminal Code. This article also stipulates that the death penalty cannot be applied to men who are over the age of 65 at the time when the sentence is pronounced)

Pardon or commutation

The Constitution gives the president authority to grant clemency.(Art. 89 (c) of the Constitution) The death penalty can be commuted to life imprisonment or deprivation of liberty for 25 years.(Art. 59 (3) of the Criminal Code) Clemency commissions in each of the constituent entities consider appeals for clemency and make recommendations to the president. (A single Presidential Pardon Commission was replaced by regional commissions in each of the constituent entities by Presidential Decree No. 1500 “On the procedure for consideration of clemency appeals in the Russian Federation”, 28 December 2001) All cases concerning individuals sentenced to death are automatically considered regardless of whether the sentenced person has submitted an appeal for clemency. Sentences are not executed until a decision on clemency has been issued.(Art. 184 of the Criminal Execution Code)

Relatives

Relatives are not informed in advance of the date of execution. The body is not returned, and the place of burial is not disclosed. (Art. 186 (4) of the Criminal Execution Code)

Relevant International Instruments

Updated: 2007

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