RF Constitutional Court to hear capital punishment moratorium case.

ST. PETERSBURG, November 9 (Itar-Tass) -- The Russian Constitutional
Court will begin the hearings into the case on the future of the capital
punishment moratorium after January 1, 2010 on Monday.

The Constitutional
Court will hear the opinions of officials from the presidential
administration, the legislative and executive branches of power and the
Prosecutor General's Office. Russian human rights commissioner Vladimir
Lukin is also expected to voice his opinion to the court.
The Supreme Court plenum has made a request to the Constitutional
Court. The judges asked to clarify the February 2, 1999 ruling, under
which the Constitutional Court decided not to apply capital punishment
until jury courts are introduced in all Russian regions. This moment will
come on January 1, 2010, when the jury court will be introduced in the
last Russian region, where it is absent so far - in the Chechen Republic
that gives the courts a formal opportunity to hand down capital punishment
sentences. On the other hand, in 1997 Russia signed the sixth protocol to
the European Convention of Human Rights, under which capital punishment
cannot be applied in the peacetime. However, the State Duma has not
ratified this document yet. Constitutional Court Chairman Valery Zorkin
noted that in February 1999 the court did not decide whether capital
punishment is constitutional, but just "settled the procedural issue."
Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna introduced the first non-official
capital punishment moratorium in the country in 1744. After the February
Revolution the Provisional Government abolished capital punishment, but it
was authorized to execute for war crimes only four months later. After the
October Revolution capital punishment was abolished again, but the Council
of the People's Commissars reintroduced it by its decree already in
February 1918. Next time capital punishment was cancelled in May 1947.
However, capital punishment was restored for high treason, espionage and
sabotage less than three years later. The last criminal was executed in
Russia on September 2, 1996.
Though the Russian Criminal Code preserves five articles envisaging
capital punishment (murder, an attempt on the life of a statesman or a
public personality, an attempt on the life of a person executing justice
or conducting preliminary investigation, on the life of a law enforcer and
for genocide), before the capital punishment moratorium was introduced by
the Constitutional Court the courts continued to pass capital punishment
sentences for 2.5 years that were replaced with pardon later. The pardon
commission has changed capital punishment sentences under 713 criminal
cases for 25-year prison terms or life imprisonment before June 1, 1999.
Capital punishment has been replaced with life imprisonment for 681
convicts, and some 225 capital punishment sentences have been replaced
with 25 years in prison by the end of 2007.
After 25 years of life imprisonment sentences the convicts can appeal
for release on parole or changing the verdict. However, no convicts
serving life imprisonment did not reach this term.
Some 60-80 people (55 people for nine months of this year) are
sentenced to life imprisonment annually in Russia. Some 1,509 convicts
serve life imprisonment now. According to the penitentiary statistical
data, practically all of them were convicted for murders with aggravating
circumstances. The overwhelming majority of them caused death to two and
more people.
Capital punishment is actively applied in 58 countries. Over 5.7
thousand capital punishment sentences were executed in the world in 2008.
China, Iran and the United States are leading in the number of executions.

.Venezuela to host first exhibition of advanced Russia technologies.

CARACAS, November 9 (Itar-Tass) -- More than 30 Russian enterprises
will participate in an exhibition of advanced Russian technologies that
will open in the Venezuelan capital for the first time on Monday.
Innovative projects and science-intensive products will be presented at
the exhibition. These products can be used for solving socio-economic
problems in Venezuela and can promote the development of bilateral
cooperation.
The exposition features the thematic blocks that are related with the
application of Russian innovative technologies to solve such important
Venezuelan issues as making the prospecting, production and processing of
oil more efficient, ensuring security at facilities of the oil and gas
industry, agricultural growth, improving the quality of medical services
using medicines and equipment of new generation.
President Hugo Chavez gives priority to these trends of socio-economic
development of the country. He stated more than once that the
implementation of joint projects with foreign partners should be
obligatorily accompanied with the transfer of modern technologies.
The innovative hardware and software system with the information
displayed on the multi-screen projector, new generation multimedia
equipment will be also applied in the presentation of Russian
technological developments at the Caracas exhibition. Venezuelan partners
will be able to familiarize with the latest Russian scientific and
technological developments, including the most promising projects of the
Rosnanotech state corporation. The information stand of the exposition
includes a database of Russian scientific-technical developments and
technological solutions under 5.6 thousand projects.
The exhibition is to hold round-table meetings involving politicians
and businessmen, including on the development problems of the oil and gas
sector in Venezuela.
-0-baz