Death Penalty in Russia: From European Norms to Domestic Constitutional Identity

• Date: 01 April 2024

e Indonesian Journal of International & Comparative Law

ISSN: 2338-7602; E-ISSN: 2338-770X

http://www.ijil.org

© 2024 e Institute for Migrant Rights Press

dEath pEnalty in russia: from

EuropEan norms to domEstiC

Constitutional idEntity

Alexandra V. Orlova

Professor, Department of Criminology; Lincoln Alexander School of Law;

Toronto Metropolitan Universty

aorlova@torontomu.ca

is article examines Russia’s complicated relationship with Western Europe

over the issue of capital punishment and investigates whether it is possible for

Russia to li its long-standing moratorium on the death penalty since it is no

longer a member of the Council of Europe. e article discusses the gradual shi

in the relationship between Russia and the West with the death penalty becom-

ing intrinsically connected to issues of sovereignty and domestic constitutional

identity and examines the role of the Russian Constitutional Court in maintain-

ing the death penalty moratorium in Russia. e article concludes that since the

issue of capital punishment has clearly become a political one, which is tied to

the idea of state sovereignty, and as political priorities change, the continuation

of the moratorium on the death penalty is no longer a given.

XI Indonesian Journal of International & Comparative Law 149-72 (April 2024)

150

Orlova

INTRODUCTION

Calls for the reintroduction of the death penalty have repeatedly

emerged in Russia since the collapse of the USSR in 1991, despite the

moratorium that was put in place in 1997 and that has lasted for over

twenty-ve years.1 e debates around capital punishment became

more vigorous aer Russia ceased to be a member of the Council of

Europe in March of 2022 and culminated following the terrorist at-

tack on the Crocus City Hall music venue in Moscow on March 22,

2024, which le 139 people dead.2 A number of prominent politicians,

including former Russian president and current Deputy Chairman of

the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev,

called for the liing of the current moratorium on capital punishment.3

Such calls for the reintroduction of the death penalty are not unique

to Russia as populist politicians frequently exploit cataclysmic events

like terrorist attacks.4 Although many view the reintroduction of the

death penalty as going against the social contract between the citizens

and the state, with citizens never agreeing to give up the totality of their

rights,5 some argue for the necessity of the death penalty as part of the

state’s sovereign control and associated monopoly on violence, as well

as the state’s ability to protect its citizens.6

is article examines Russia’s complicated relationship with the

Council of Europe over the issue of capital punishment and investigates

whether it is possible to li the current long-standing moratorium

on the death penalty now that Russia is no longer a member of the

Council. Part one of the article looks at how Russia’s history with capital

1. Protsedura Otmeny Moratoria na Smertnuu Kazn v Rossii, RIA N,

March 26, 2024 [in Russian].

2. Slutskii Vystupil za Otmenu Moratoriya na Smertnuu Kazn, RIA N,

March 26, 2024 [in Russian].

3. K. Strelnikov, Terroristy I Evropa obidyatsa za vozvraschenie smertnoi kazni v

Rossii, RIA N, March 27, 2024 [in Russian].

4. James Unnever, Global Support for the Death Penalty, 12 P. S. 465

(2010).

5. Laura Zavatta, Controversial eories on the Death Penalty, 8 B L. R.

218 (2017).

6. E.E. Novopavlovskaya, Realizatsiya Konstitutsionnogo Prava na Zhizn v

Sovremennyh Realiyah, 4 V VGU,  (2022) [in Russian].