Russia’s decision to continue its ban on the death penalty was praised by the Council on Europe and media in Europe Thursday and Friday. The country’s Constitutional Court 18 November decided to continue indefinitely a country-wide moratorium on the death penalty, in place since 1999, which was scheduled to end in January 2010. Its rulings must be followed by all Russian courts, according to the Moscow Times. The government and the Kremlin have said they did not want executions begun again. Ten years ago the court decided that executions could take place only if all Russian regions had trials by jury in murder cases, and the last of the regions to implement this has been Chechnya, which is slated to start them in January.

Links to other sites: die Welte, Moscow Times, Ria Novosti

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