Statement by the Federal Bureau of Yabloko, adopted on 28.03.2024

Photo: Alexander Koryakov, Kommersant

In connection with the monstrous terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, calls from high stands for the return of the death penalty in Russia are heard again. As the bearer of the Russian and European humanistic tradition, the Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko is categorically against the abolition of the moratorium on the death penalty.

We believe that Russian society is able to withstand this difficult test with dignity without returning to the practice of legalised murder. Feelings of pain and anger should not overshadow a sober head. Experience shows: the capital punishment does not prevent crime, but the possibility of the slightest mistake when imposing a death sentence creates the risk of killing an innocent person – the number of such examples is countless in history.

Politicians and public figures who decided to take advantage of the resonant tragedy and, in the spirit of the Bolsheviks [in Russia of the beginning of the 20^th century], started talking about the “highest measure of social protection”, are pulling the country into another abyss.

In a situation where there is no rule of law, the introduction of the death penalty will lead to an avalanche of terror, as already happened during the Stalinist repressions. The number of acquittals in today’s Russia is negligible, the competitiveness of the judicial process is reduced to a formality, criminal cases are falsified, and the accused are systematically subjected to torture. Thus, innocent people often become defendants in criminal cases.

In these conditions, all talk about using capital punishment only against terrorists is absurd and irresponsible. Once the death penalty is introduced, it will inevitably spread to other crimes. The very possibility of imposing death sentences will radically change the moral atmosphere in the country, harden society, and exalt hatred and violence.

The main formula of justice should be the inevitability of punishment and the confidence of society that all the guilty will be found, brought to justice and their guilt will be proven, rather than cruelty or the archaic principle of “death for death”.

The best representatives of the Russian and the world culture, such as philosopher Vladimir Solovyov, human rights defender Andrei Sakharov, writers Victor Hugo, Charles Dickens and Leo Tolstoy, wrote about the immorality and unacceptability of the death penalty. We also firmly believe that the death penalty is the most cruel and inhumane act on behalf of the state, denying the sacred human right to life.

Our country has come a long and tragic way to the decision that the state has no right to kill people. The moratorium on the death penalty has been one of the most important achievements of Russian history over the past 30 years.

In 1999, the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional the imposition of death sentences in the absence of jury trials in all Russian regions, and in 2009 indicated the impossibility of imposing the death penalty even after this institution is introduced everywhere. These decisions were made not only in pursuance of the international obligations of the Russian Federation to the Council of Europe, but also in pursuance of our Constitution, which has the highest legal force. Decisions of the Constitutional Court on the death penalty cannot be reviewed or overturned.

The Yabloko party advocates a complete and final ban on the death penalty in Russia. The Russian state must sign and ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted by UN General Assembly resolution 44/128 on 15 December, 1989, and abolish the death penalty forever.

Nikolai Rybakov,

Yabloko Chairman