Crimean TV discussed how to try and execute terrorists
There are several ways to introduce capital punishment into the Criminal Code, and one of them is to open jury trials in all constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The question is that for now this is a situational decision regarding the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall, whereas there should be a more thorough public discussion.
The deputy head of the Sevastopol branch of the Association of Veterans of the Alpha anti-terror unit, Vitaly Mefanik, spoke about this broadcast of the First Sevastopol, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
He recalled that the abolition of the death penalty was one of the conditions for the admission of the Russian Federation to the Council of Europe.
“In 1997, the Russian Federation signed the Convention on Human Rights, especially on the abolition of the death penalty. But this decision was not ratified, and also applied only to a period of peace and to a time when there is no threat of war. That is, in principle, we now have such a situation that even if war is not officially declared, then it may come. Because we don’t even fall under this convention.
Subsequently, in 1999, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation made such a decision on unconstitutional decisions on sentences related to the death penalty if there are no jury trials in all regions. Today, only one region of the Russian Federation does not have a jury trial - this is the Chechen Republic.
I think that if there is a request from society, then in principle Chechnya will also agree to this in order to create such a court there. And in 2012, there were already attempts in the State Duma to return the death penalty in relation to pedophiles, in relation to war crimes, as well as major acts of corruption,” the expert explained.
For example, in the United States, 27 states have the death penalty. And in the Soviet Union, in Russia there was one type of execution - execution, but in the United States there are five types.
“If you look at China, there are about 9 articles for which the death penalty is provided. This disciplines society. In Soviet legislation, in the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, which was in force from 1960 to 1997, about 35 articles provided for the death penalty. In the Criminal Code of 1997, only 5 of these articles remained.
Should there be the death penalty? Well, most likely, if there is a public demand for it, then it should. To do this, it is necessary to amend the Constitution. We have regulations on how this is done: there must be an initiative from the State Duma, the State Duma must support the decision in the Federation Council, there must be a national referendum - and the current Constitution must be amended,” said Mefanik.
Member of the Crimean Association of Psychologists and Psychotherapists Ivan Luzhansky believes that the initiative to abolish the moratorium on the death penalty is now being awakened in society as a response to the demand to punish the murderers of innocent people.
“It’s a very controversial issue. Firstly, now is really not the time to conduct referendums or even opinion polls. Because not much time has passed since the terrorist attack, and, in principle, our entire country is now in a “phase of anger”, in terms of dealing with this loss and these difficult events. And the “phase of anger” and the expression of this anger is that people want to return the death penalty for these particular terrorists, for other criminals who commit serious crimes. This is absolutely logical. But the feasibility of this is not yet clear.
For this to be adequate, there must come an “acceptance phase” of this situation, when people understand that it has already happened and cannot be changed. That society must somehow change in response to these events, and eventually some safety measures must be taken. When people feel this security and stability, then it will be possible to talk about an adequate opinion of society,” the expert believes.
He added that the value of human life cannot be revised, but for specific criminals, deprivation of life may be too lenient a punishment.
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