Multiple sides of Russia's political landscape seemingly stood in agreement on this issue.
Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta reported on Tuesday that the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Leonid Slutsky, said that the death penalty should be re-established as it is "the only fitting punishment for these scumbags."
Additionally, the leader of the socially conservative, social-democratic For a Just Russia party, Sergey Mironov, told reporters his party would lobby for "a nationwide referendum on 8 September on the reintroduction of the death penalty for these monsters and scoundrels that have no place on this Earth."
However, veteran Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov said that due to abuse of the criminal justice system the death penalty should remain "an absolutely exceptional measure, even for events like these."
While the Constitutional Court has refused to comment on the proposals, a court representative told TASS, Russia's state news agency, that the court would consider the issue "soon."
On Saturday, the head of the ruling United Russia party in the State Duma, Vladimir Vasilyev, made a statement in a video address: "Now a lot of questions are being asked about the death penalty," he said, according to The Moscow Times. "This topic will definitely be deeply, professionally and substantively worked out. A decision will be made that will meet the mood and expectations of our society."
The moratorium on the death penalty in Russia was officially established in 1996 by then-president Boris Yeltsin. It was upheld by the Constitutional Court in 1999.
Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that the death penalty had not been abolished "either according to the constitution or criminal law" and that there's no need for a referendum on the issue as the court could "simply reverse its ruling."
