Signatures Collected To Establish Death Penalty For Drug Traffickers

One million of signatures for restoring the death penalty in Russia have been presented to Russia's Duma today. According to Radio Ekho Moskvy, they were collected in the Nizhny Novgorod district by representatives of the Fighting Crime Union. The action had been initiated by member of Duma's faction Union of Right Forces (SPS) Dmitry Savelyev in connection with his proposal to recognize drug trafficking as a crime against life that must be punished by a death sentence. Savelyev is a candidate to governor elections in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The elections are scheduled for July 15. SPS leader Boris Nemtsov named the Savelyev's initiative as part of his election campaign that had no chances to be brought about. Communist leader Gennady Ziuganov considers that it is impossible to abolish capital sentence in Russia. "What is good to Europe is not fitting for Russia. They don't have Chechnya while we suffer from terrorism", Ziuganov stated on Wednesday. The politician underlined he was in favour of the death penalty but only for terrorists. The Russian Revival movement (Russkoye Vozrojdenye) also decided to gather signatures needed to hold a national referendum on lifting the moratorium on the death penalty for terrorists. According to the RV, it is the only way to beat terrorism in Russia. The RV says the State should not save lives of those who murder old people and children and who are using as a cover women and new-born children while they seize hostages.