The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area ring in Russia.28 The moratorium on executions would be in place until the Russian Federation ratified Protocol 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which bans the death penalty. The Russian Federation has signed but not ratified the Protocol. The United Nations Human Rights Committee also noted “with concern that the death penalty [had] yet to be abolished de jure in the State party despite the welcome moratorium on the execution of death sentences in force since 1996”.29 Despite this clear direction set out by the Constitutional Court, debate on the reinstatement of the death penalty occasionally resurfaces. According to reports of a statement made by State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov to two visiting members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, “terrorist activities in Russia have been the factor that has prevented the country from abolishing capital punishment”.30 The issue of retaining the death penalty for those convicted of committing terrorist acts received significant public coverage following the Moscow Metro bombings on 29 March 2010. Immediately after the bombings, the Committee on Judicial and Legal Affairs of the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, reportedly began work on a draft law to introduce the death sentence for organizers of terrorist attacks resulting in multiple deaths.31 Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov, on the other hand, stated that, even in the cases of convicted terrorists, he was “negative about calling off a moratorium on the death penalty.”32 Russian Federation President Dmitry Medvedev was reported as saying on 2 April 2010 that, even though he would not have introduced the death penalty moratorium in Russia in 1996, Russia would adhere to its international obligations.33 28  “Russia prolongs moratorium on death penalty, contemplates ban,” RIA Novosti, 19 November 2009, <http:// en.rian.ru/russia/20091119/156902623.html>. 29  Human Rights Committee, Concluding observations for the Russian Federation, Human Rights Committee, CCPR/C/RUS/CO/6, 24 November 2009. 30  “Russia can’t abolish death penalty due to terrorist threats”, Interfax, 23 March 2010, <http://www.interfaxreligion.com/?act=news&div=7068>. 31  “Death Penalty Lingers in Former Soviet Republics”, Kester Kenn Klomegah, IPS News, 5 April 2010, <http:// ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50912>. 32  “Russian upper house speaker against death penalty for terrorists”, Sergey Mironov – Chairman of the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, official website, <http://mironov.info/publications/9966. php>. 33  “Authorities identify teen as Moscow subway bomber”, Maxim Tkachenko and Matthew Chance, CNN Website, 2 April 2010, <http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/04/02/russian.bombing/index.html>. 6