Russia's withdrawal from Council of Europe does not mean reinstatement of death penalty - Kosachyov

MOSCOW. March 10 (Interfax) - Russia's withdrawal from the Council of Europe does not mean that Russia will reinstate the death penalty, Federation Council Deputy Speaker Konstantin Kosachyov said.

"No, we have our own constitution and our own Constitutional Court. Decisions regarding death penalty are not only and not so much a matter of our obligations to the Council of Europe," Kosachyov told Interfax on Thursday when asked whether Russia's withdrawal from the Council of Europe might make the reinstatement of the death penalty in Russia possible.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier that Russia had no intention to participate in the activities of the Council of Europe, which were being undermined by Western nations.

Speaking of the procedure of withdrawal from the Council of Europe, Kosachyov said that it was done on the basis of Article 7 of the Council of Europe Statute, at the initiative of the withdrawing party, which gives a respective formal notice to the Council of Europe secretary general.

"The membership is terminated at the end of the current fiscal year if the notice is sent within the first nine months of the year. Whenever a notice is sent within the last three months of a financial year, the membership is terminated at the end of the next fiscal year. The withdrawal mechanism envisages the simultaneous renouncement of the Council of Europe Statute and the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms [the European Convention on Human Rights]," he said.

"The renouncement does not exempt the relevant country from obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights for any actions that might have resulted from a breach of these obligations and might have been committed before the renouncement date (Article 58.2 of the Convention)," Kosachyov said.