Putin is urged to bring back the death penalty by Russia's chief investigator 28 years after serial killer became last prisoner sentenced to execution by single gunshot to the back of the head
Vladimir Putin has been urged to bring back the death penalty by Russia's chief investigator 28 years after a serial killer became the last prisoner to be sentenced to execution by a single gunshot to the back of his head.
Russia stopped carrying out capital punishment in 1996 as a prerequisite for joining the Council of Europe. But it was expelled from the rights group in 2022 after launching its offensive in Ukraine.
And now a growing number of Putin's allies and lawmakers have called for the death penalty to be brought back.
They want the the sentence to be used against suspects in a terror attack at a concert hall near Moscow in March in which more than 140 people were killed.
'We should consider lifting the moratorium on the death penalty,' the head of Russia's Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, told a legal forum in Saint Petersburg on Friday.
A growing number of Putin's allies and lawmakers have called for the death penalty to be brought back
A view shows the burning Crocus City Hall concert hall following the shooting incident in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, on March 22, 2024
'We should consider lifting the moratorium on the death penalty,' the head of Russia's Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, (pictured) told a legal forum in Saint Petersburg
'In some cases it should be applied, and in these cases I am in favour of the death penalty.'
Bastrykin, who has headed the Investigative Committee for more than a decade, said Putin could lift the moratorium by decree.
He continued: 'I have been told by some competent, qualified lawyers that we need to change the constitution - that we need to hold a referendum - but I believe that we should simply lift the moratorium on the death penalty by presidential decree.'
In March, the head of Russia's parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, suggested the moratorium would need to be overturned by Russia's Constitutional Court.
If Putin were to bring back the death penalty, the precise legal mechanism would simply be a formality.
In March, his spokesman said the Kremlin was not 'taking part in this discussion for the moment'.
A provision for the death penalty is already included in Russia's criminal code but has not been used in more than 25 years.
ISIS' news agency Amaq released sickening a 90-second selfie video of the attack that is too graphic for MailOnline to share
A view of damage at Crocus City Hall concert venue near Moscow, Russia after fire extinguished following a gunmen attack that claimed the lives of at least 139 people on March 23, 2024
Former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy head of Russia's Security Council, has also suggested that capital punishment be reinstated for the most severe crimes.
Critics have voiced alarm over the proposal, citing fears the Kremlin could use it as a deterrent against dissent or political opponents.
The death penalty has not been used in Russia since 1996, when serial killer, rapist and necrophile Sergey Aleksandrovich Golovkin was killed with a single shot in the back of his head.
Also known as Fisher and The Boa, he was convicted of killing 11 boys between the ages of 10 and 16 between 1986 and 1992.
Before their deaths, the sadist tortured and raped the children in his garage basement and the forests near Moscow.
