The Russian government may rescind its pledge to ban capital punishment because of the country's soaring lawlessness and crime.
"The moratorium is likely to be cancelled, and punishment will be made more severe," said Mr Vladimir Kartashkin, head of the Commission for Human Rights under President Boris Yeltsin. Russia promised to scrap the death penalty in January 1996 when it joined the Council of Europe, a human rights organisation. But 92 people were executed before Mr Yeltsin imposed a moratorium on executions later that year.
