In the Russian Federation, at present, the possible types of punishment for committing crimes are established by the Criminal Code. In this case, however, it should be borne in mind that the country has a moratorium on the death penalty. It represents a complete refusal by the state from this type of punishment, regardless of the gravity of the crime committed.
The death penalty in Russia
The death penalty in the Russian Federation was provided for by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which determined the main types of punishment for various crimes. In particular, he established that the death penalty in our country was applied to men between the ages of 18 and 65 for committing such acts as murder, genocide, as well as attempted murder of certain categories of citizens - law enforcement officers, prominent state or public figures or persons carrying out the investigation of crimes or justice.
The implementation of the death penalty, according to the law, could be carried out using the only method - execution. The last time this was done was in 1996, and after that the situation with the death penalty in Russia changed dramatically.
Moratorium on the death penalty
Around the world, the main motive for countries to impose a moratorium on the death penalty on their citizens is the likelihood of a miscarriage of justice, which could lead to the death of an innocent person. In April 1997, the Russian Federation joined the Council of Europe, and one of the conditions for its membership in this organization was the introduction of a corresponding moratorium in the country, which was done.
At the same time, the conditions of Protocol No. 6, which is an annex to the European Convention on Human Rights, signed by Russia, assumed that a moratorium in our country would be introduced until a jury trial appeared in every constituent entity of the Federation. On January 1, 2010, the process of the formation of this institution in the Russian Federation was fully completed: the jury appeared in the last constituent entity of the Federation, where it had not yet existed - in the Chechen Republic.
In this regard, the issue of maintaining or canceling the moratorium was submitted to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, which, having studied all the available circumstances of this situation, decided to maintain the effect of the moratorium on the territory of the country. Thus, at present, the most severe punishment that is applied to criminals who have committed the most dangerous acts from the point of view of society is life imprisonment. However, it should be borne in mind that Article 44 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation still contains a mention of the death penalty in the list of types of punishments that can be applied to criminals.
