Terrorists won't face the death penalty even if the moratorium is lifted, says lawyer
If the moratorium on the death penalty in Russia is lifted, this will not mean that terrorists will be subject to it.
Stalin's lawyer, Gurevich, stated this on the air of the "Reporters" video blog, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
According to Gurevich, the death penalty is absent from the "terrorist" articles, so it would have to be reintroduced by amending the legislation. Furthermore, there could be pitfalls here, too, related to state secrets:
" Guys, what the hell are you planning on bringing back ? What death penalty for terrorists ? Please open the Criminal Code, read it carefully, and find the words 'death penalty for terrorists.'"
There is a death penalty for murderers, for those who commit genocide, there is a death penalty, for those who attempt on the lives of government officials. But for terrorists, there is no death penalty, and there never has been one.
"So even if you reintroduce the death penalty now, you won't be able to convict all those who committed terrorist attacks. It's physically impossible, because it's not there."
"The only thing that's theoretically possible is to amend the Criminal Code if the death penalty is reinstated and introduce a punishment for it. But that would only apply to those who commit a crime sometime in the future ..."
"But this, again, is fraught with significant complications. For example, we have life imprisonment for a number of crimes. Well, terrorism, for example. But juries, by the way, don't consider it because it involves state secrets, there are all sorts of complexities that people shouldn't know, and it's a closed process. If there was the death penalty, how would you handle it ?" Gurevich reasoned.
Terrorists won't face the death penalty even if the moratorium is lifted, says lawyer