As of: March 26, 2024, 3:53 p.m
By: Nils Hinsberger
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More than 130 people die in an attack in Moscow.
The reintroduction of the death penalty is now being discussed - experts are concerned.
Moscow – Members of the Russian government have spoken out in favor of reintroducing the death penalty following the devastating attack in Moscow.
During a plenary session of the State Duma, the leader of the right-wing populist party LDPR, Leonid Slutsky, said that there should be no other punishment for “the scumbags” than the death penalty.
Experts suspect that Russian President Vladimir Putin could now use the attack as an opportunity to expand surveillance in Russia and thus his power.
Russia suspended the death penalty when it joined the Council of Europe in 1996, but never completely abolished it.
This makes Russia the only country in the Council that has not ratified a corresponding Protocol No. 6, which prohibits the death penalty with reference to the right to life.
In 2009, the Russian Constitutional Court also banned courts from carrying out the death penalty.
This could therefore be reintroduced with a decision by the Constitutional Court, states the Chairman of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, according to reports from the Russian news agency
RIA Novosti
.
“With a cool head” – Putin’s government wants to set up a working group to introduce the death penalty
“No one has abolished the death penalty in our constitution and criminal legislation,” Volodin announced at a plenary session in Moscow.
If the Constitutional Court reverses its decision to suspend the death penalty, that would be “sufficient”.
If Volodin has his way, a working group made up of “representatives of all political factions and heads of relevant committees” should decide on a possible reintroduction.
Sergei Mironov, leader of Putin's United Russia party, wants to call for a referendum on the return of the death penalty.
A suspect in the Crocus City Hall attack in Moscow is herded into the Basmanny District Court.
© dpa
The chairman of the Committee for State Building, Pavel Krasheninnikov, also sees a reintroduction of the death penalty as possible.
“We have a moratorium on the death penalty, but we are ready to discuss draft laws,” Krasheninnikov said at the meeting.
But such a decision must be made with a “cool head,”
RIA Novosti
quoted him as saying .
Could Putin use the attack in Moscow to justify his expansion of power?
During the first Algerian war, there were a series of attacks in Russia - including in Moscow.
There are indications that the Russian secret service FSB may have been involved in the attacks.
Head of the state body at the time: Vladimir Putin.
After his appointment as Prime Minister, he used the terrorist attacks as an opportunity for further military intervention in the Czech Republic.
According to experts, the recent attack in Moscow could be used by Putin to further expand surveillance in Russia,
ntv
reported .
One indication that Russia's president could use the attack for his own purposes are the accusations against Ukraine.
Putin had already spoken of Ukraine's involvement shortly after the attack on the “Crocus City Hall,” in which, according to current information, more than 130 people were killed.
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned last Saturday against using "this terrible tragedy" as a pretext for an "escalation of violence and aggression."
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The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyj, firmly rejected the allegations from Moscow.
“Of course, after what happened in Moscow yesterday, Putin and the other bastards are just trying to blame someone else,” Zelensky said in his daily video address last Friday.
“Very worrying” – expert has concerns about reintroducing the death penalty in Russia
If Russia were to reintroduce the death penalty in connection with the attack in Moscow, it could open the door to massive human rights violations.
Janine Uhlmannsiek, Europe and Central Asia expert at Amnesty International, told Tagesspiegel
that
Russian politicians' demands were "very worrying."
Russia's judiciary is known for repeatedly violating human rights.
Human rights organizations have observed a “strong bias” in Russian courts against defendants.
Confessions under torture are also common practice in Russia.
In cases of “terrorism, extremism or high treason,” the trials “often take place behind closed doors,” said Ulmannsiek.
But there are also dissenting voices in Russia that reject reintroducing the death penalty.
Eva Merkacheva, a member of the Human Rights Council of Russia (GCR), said that such a punishment would neither be effective nor prevent further crimes.
Rather, in the spirit of science, an attempt should be made to convert the alleged terrorists.
A scientist, who will not be named, succeeded in doing this.
“This can then be used at the state level to prevent terrorism,” Merkacheva added.
(nhi)