MOSCOW, December 23 (Sputnik) — The Russian Foreign Ministry's Commissioner on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law Konstantin Dolgov told RIA Novosti on Tuesday that the Ministry is actively working to prevent Russian citizens from being executed abroad, whether or not they are guilty of committing a crime.
"The Foreign Ministry has been actively working on all corresponding cases. We are fighting to ensure that death sentences handed out to Russian citizens [abroad] are not carried out, regardless of whether or not they are guilty," Dolgov said.
Dolgov explained that Russia's position is not only based on the human factor, but also on Russia's moratorium on the death penalty. He noted that while Russia fully respects the local laws of those countries which have the death penalty, Moscow will do all it can to ensure that Russian citizens do not face execution.
With regard to the execution of Akhlaq, Dolgov noted that Russia took all the measures it could to ensure that the "punishment be changed on humanitarian grounds," but "unfortunately, our appeals did not lead to the desired result."
Two Russians, Alexandr Simonov and Sergei Chernov, are presently imprisoned in Indonesia, serving 8 and 11 years on charges of narcotics smuggling. Prior to the Foreign Ministry's intervention, they had faced the death penalty. In Vietnam, a Russian woman, Maria Drapirke, was detained at the airport on suspicion of drug smuggling; she also presently faces the death penalty and the Ministry is working on having the sentence commuted.
