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This News Service is posted by the
International Secretariat of Amnesty International,
1 Easton Street, London WC1X 8DJ
(Tel +44-71-413-5500, Fax +44-71-956-1157)
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News Service 39/96
AI INDEX: EUR 46/12/96
28 FEBRUARY 1996


RUSSIAN FEDERATION: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL WELCOMES RUSSIA~S
COMMITMENT TO HALT EXECUTIONS

Amnesty International welcomes the Russian Government~s
commitment to stop executions starting today -- the day of
Russia~s official accession to the Council of Europe -- and
to abolish the death penalty within three years.
      Russia is joining the Council of Europe as  its 39th
member state, and officially signing the European Convention
for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

       ~The Russian Government should ensure that all
relevant government and judicial bodies on all levels are
informed that a moratorium is in force, and that no further
executions take place until the death penalty is abolished in
law,~ Amnesty International said today.

      To date Russia has one of the highest execution rates
in the world. According to the Ministry of Justice 223 people
were sentenced to death in 1991; 159 people in 1992; 157
death sentences were handed out in 1993; and at least 160
people were sentenced to death in 1994.

      Amnesty International has been able to confirm that at
least 28 people were executed during 1995 and a further 34
faced imminent execution in November 1995, after their
petitions for clemency were reportedly turned down by
President Boris Yeltsin. According to unofficial sources in
the Presidential Clemency Commission, the number of
executions in 1995 was 90. The Ministry of Internal Affairs
of the Russian Federation, however, has stated that only 16
executions were carried out in 1995.

      Amnesty International learned that since March 1992,
when the Clemency Commission was first established, 338
petitions for clemency had been upheld. However, in 1995
there was a decline in the number of successful petitions for
clemency. President Yeltsin, reportedly, granted clemency to
only five prisoners during 1995. Amnesty International
estimated that between 500 and 600 prisoners were held on
death row at the end of last year.

      Amnesty International is also calling on the Government
of the Russian Federation to develop a strategy to respect
and implement its pledged commitments on a wide range of
human rights issues -- both in peace time and during armed
conflicts. It urges the government to work closely with the
relevant international bodies, as well as with the national
NGOs, in developing a comprehensive action program for
implementation of all of their human rights commitments.

      This includes legal and justice system reform,
protection of national minorities, improving conditions of
detention, adoption of a law on alternative military service,
elimination of incidents of ill-treatment and deaths in the
armed forces in peace time, and respect for freedom of
assembly and freedom of religion. The organization is also
urging the government to implement  its commitment to the
Council of Europe to bring to justice those found responsible
for human rights violations in the context of the conflict in
Chechnya.

ENDS\  

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