Russia won't restore death penalty in case of possible secession from PACE
MOSCOW. April 8 (Interfax) - A possible withdrawal from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will not give Russia the right to lift the national death penalty moratorium, the Russian Justice Ministry press service stated.
"Consistent with the Council of Europe Charter, PACE is a body of the Council of Europe. The suspended membership in PACE or even the secession from it does not exempt the Russian Federation from its international commitments," says a press service statement obtained by Interfax on Tuesday.
The Justice Ministry responded to an Interfax question as to whether Russia might lift the death penalty moratorium in the case that PACE suspends its powers over the Ukrainian events.
The ministry also referred to the legal opinion of the Russian Constitutional Court, which said Russia has not been able to use the capital punishment since April 16, 1997.
On that day Russia signed Protocol No. 6 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms concerning the abolition of the death penalty and undertook to abolish the death penalty, the press service said.
Russia declared a moratorium on the capital punishment and replaced it with life in jail. The moratorium expired on January 1, 2010, but the Russian Constitutional Court extended it in November 2009 until the time the State Duma ratified the protocol concerning the abolition of the death penalty.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which opened its spring session on Monday, supported the proposal of the Assembly Bureau to consider the powers of the Russian delegation on April 10. There are two options: the Russian delegation may be either deprived of the vote or its powers may be suspended until the end of this year over the events in Ukraine and Crimea.
Michael Aastrup Jensen (Denmark) and Robert Walter (the UK) put forward the motion for resolution at the Assembly.