08 December 2006, 21:06
State Duma has postponed introduction of juries in Chechnya till 2010
The State Duma has made an amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure in the third and final reading to postpone introduction of the court of jury in Chechnya till 2010. By doing so, the deputies have extended the death penalty moratorium in Russia by 3 more years.
According to Decision of the Russian Constitutional Court of February 2, 1999, the death penalty moratorium in the territory of Russia would remain valid until all the subjects of Russia, without any exceptions, have introduced trials by juries, the ITAR-TASS reports.
We remind you that juries are operative in the Russian Federation since 2003 over the whole territory, except for Chechnya where introduction of then had already been postponed till 2007. Annually, the juries consider about a thousand criminal cases out of 1.1 million totally considered by Russian courts. While at common courts acquittals make no more than 3 percent, the juries strike the figure of 20 percent.
