February 23, 2023, 09:00 – BLiTZ – News
The Republic of Belarus adopted a bill providing for the introduction of the death penalty for officials for treason as an exceptional punishment. For the innovation to come into force, it must now be approved by the upper house of parliament and signed by the country’s president.
The correspondent of the BLiTZ turned to lawyer Dmitry Krasnov to find out what steps the Russian authorities should take in order to adopt the Belarusian experience.
“The deterrent factors that required the Russian Federation to introduce a moratorium on the death penalty are no more”
“There are no more deterrent factors that required the Russian Federation to introduce a moratorium on the death penalty,” the lawyer noted. “We are no longer part of the Council of Europe and we are no longer subject to the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. Also, in our updated Constitution from 2020, the primacy of national legislation over international law is prescribed.”
Nevertheless, the DOS interlocutor continued, the moratorium on the death penalty is still spelled out in the country’s Basic Law, which means that a simple vote in the State Duma will not be enough to abolish it.
“For this to happen, the President of the Russian Federation or one of the chambers of parliament must raise the issue of the return of the death penalty as a punishment”
“For this to happen, the president of the Russian Federation or one of the chambers of parliament must raise the issue of the return of the death penalty as a punishment,” Krasnov said. – After that, it must be submitted to a referendum, where citizens will vote for or against the innovation. That’s the mechanism.”
The lawyer emphasized that it would be impossible to do without a universal vote, since only “the bearer of sovereignty – the Russian people” can decide issues related to the constitutional structure of the country.
“My personal opinion is that there is no such need to introduce the death penalty in order to hold a whole referendum for it,” the DOS interlocutor added. “Yes, and the president of the country did not raise such a topic in his last public speeches.”
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