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Investigative Committee chief for considering abolition of moratorium on death penalty

Alexander Bastrykin said that it should be used "in some cases," citing the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall music venue as an example
Russian Investigative Committee Chairman Alexander Bastrykin Gavriil Grigorov/TASS
Russian Investigative Committee Chairman Alexander Bastrykin
© Gavriil Grigorov/TASS

ST. PETERSBURG, June 28. /TASS/. The chief of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, has suggested considering the possibility of abolishing the moratorium on the death penalty in Russia.

"We should consider the possibility of abolishing the moratorium on the death penalty. In some cases, it should be used, and in these cases I am in favor of the death penalty," he said at the plenary session of the International Youth Legal Forum in St. Petersburg.

As an example, Bastrykin cited the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall music venue.

"If in Soviet times capital punishment could be given for killing two or more people, in this case the defendants will receive a maximum of life in prison," Bastrykin said.

Russian Constitutional Court Chairman Valery Zorkin said earlier at the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum that "the moratorium on death penalty in Russia is inviolable" and that the inadmissibility of its resumption in Russia is a strict cap on changes to the country's current legal system. In Zorkin’s opinion, legislative regulation may change in many respects, but it should not change when it comes to the death penalty.