Around the World: Russia

Death penalty killed

Russia's Constitutional Court effectively outlawed the death penalty yesterday, saying that a moratorium on capital punishment should remain in force until the nation fully bans executions. Constitutional Court chief Valery Zorkin said that Russia must extend the moratorium on executions until it ratifies a European convention banning the death penalty. Russia announced a moratorium on capital punishment when it joined the Council of Europe in 1996 and pledged to abolish it, but has not done so. Parliament has been reluctant to fully outlaw executions due to broad public support for the death penalty.