Ekho Moskvy news

Kemerovo governor calls for public execution of terrorists

Kemerovo Region governor Aman Tuleyev has called for public executions of terrorists and drugs traffickers in Russia. He says that is the only way to deal with such crimes.

In an interview with Interfax, Tuleyev said executions should be carried out publicly. Take them out into the square and shoot them with automatic rifles, Tuleyev was quoted by Ekho Moskvy radio station as saying. As far as the Council of Europe is concerned, the governor said it wasn't worth complying with the rules of this organization.

Tuleyev said that, in the interests of the state, membership of the Council of Europe could be dispensed with.

******

Execution of terrorists "will not help" - Russian rights activist

The introduction of death penalty "will not help", the leader of the Democratic Union party, Valeriya Novodvorskaya, has told Ekho Moskvy radio.

She was commenting on Kemerovo Region governor Aman Tuleyev's suggestion that death penalty should be introduced for terrorists and drug traffickers. She went on to say that the introduction of death penalty will lead to a situation when "failing to seize terrorists in Chechnya, they will shoot down normal democrats, who propose to end this war, because they are always at hand, not up in the mountains and have no assault rifles".

"This is a splendid way to get rid of opposition, dissidents, democrats and intelligentsia in general," she added. [In an earlier report, Ekho Moskvy news agency quoted State Duma member Aslambek Aslakhanov as voicing his support to the idea of introducing death penalty for terrorists]