Head of Russian parliament's upper chamber against lifting moratorium on death penalty

Head of the Russian parliament's upper chamber, Sergei Mironov, is against lifting the moratorium on death penalty in Russia, he said to journalists in Makhachkala after a session of the State Council of Daghestan, Russia's republic in the North Caucasus bordering on Chechnya.

Mironov "fully understands" the feelings of the Daghestani people who propose to lift the moratorium, he said. In recent years the local population has often suffered from Chechen rebels' intrusion and terrorist attacks, the last of which was organized on May 9th and resulted in numerous casualties. Now, in line with the Russian Constitutional Court's ruling, it is neither possible to exercise capital punishment nor to sentence to it, the Federation Council chairman recalled.

"I personally consider it possible to replace all clauses envisioning death penalty in the Russian criminal code with life sentence without right to amnesty," Mironov concluded.