The chairman of Russia's Supreme Court says he opposes calls to end the country's moratorium on capital punishment.
Vyacheslav Lebedev told journalists in Moscow on February 10 that there is "no reason" to end the moratorium on the death penalty, which was put in place by the Constitutional Court in 1999 and extended in 2009.
Russia imposed the moratorium after joining the Council of Europe, which requires members to refrain from executing convicts.
Last month, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted to deprive Russia of its rights within the assembly for the second consecutive session over Moscow's reluctance to stop backing separatists in Ukraine's eastern regions.
Russian lawmakers have questioned whether Russia should remain in the Council of Europe after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) voted last month to deprive Moscow of its rights within the assembly for the second consecutive session over its interference in Ukraine.
Lawmakers from ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s Liberal Democratic Party have said quitting the Council of Europe could enable Russia to reinstate the death penalty.