Attack in Russia: voices are raised to demand the return of the death penalty for terrorists

Forty-eight hours after the attack near Moscow, Russia, voices are being raised to demand the return of the death penalty for terrorists.

After the bloody terrorist attack on Friday March 22 near Moscow, Russians are waiting for answers. While the country observes national mourning to pay tribute to the 137 victims, this Sunday, March 24, parliamentarians announced that they were for the return of the death penalty to condemn the attackers.

The death penalty has no longer been used in Russia since the country decided on a moratorium on the issue and joined the Council of Europe in 1996, but this irreversible punishment has never been abolished. Today, the lifting of this moratorium is once again on the agenda in the country. “A decision will be made that will meet the expectations of our society,” commented the head of the parliamentary group of the ruling United Russia party, Vladimir Vassiliev. Vladimir Putin also promised to "punish" those responsible for the attack, recalls Le Figaro.

“When we talk about terrorism, the murder of people, we must reinstate the death penalty within the framework of criminal law,” declared bluntly Youri Afonine, a parliamentary official in charge of security issues, reports Le Figaro. Comments supported by Sergei Mironov, the figure of the pro-Kremlin Just Russia party, who also demanded “the establishment of the death penalty for people committing terrorist acts”.

For the moment, the investigation continues to determine the reasons for the attack. Russian television broadcast footage of the arrest and interrogation of the suspects on Saturday afternoon. In these images, we can see the bloodied defendants. A video by public channel Pervy Kanal, posted on social media, shows a dark-haired man in a light brown T-shirt being held to the ground, while a piece of his right ear is cut off. A person out of frame tries to force this piece into his mouth and punches him in the cheek, reports BFMTV, specifying that the authenticity of the video has not been verified.