Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church allowed the introduction of the death penalty in Russia, stating that although the Church and Jesus Christ did not approve it, they never condemned it either.
Patriarch Kirill said this during a meeting with the Russian military, who took part in the war against Ukraine, Hromadske reports.
He was asked what he thought about the introduction of the death penalty in the country, to which he replied that the death penalty has always been present in human history, and even Jesus Christ did not condemn it, although he was unjustly killed.
The ROC Patriarch also quoted a verse from the First Epistle to the Corinthians: “God will judge those on the outside; You must remove the evil person from among you,” trying to explain that if one who poses a danger cannot be isolated, they ”must be removed.”
“God willing, there will be as few cases as possible when it is necessary for a person to lose his or her life, even for some crimes. Do we have life imprisonment now? Let it be so. I just don't know what is better for a person,” Kirill said.
It should be noted that in June 2024, the head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin, proposed to consider lifting the moratorium on the death penalty for certain crimes. As an example, he cited the terrorist attack in the concert hall of the Crocus City Hall music center in the Moscow region. Currently, the defendants in the case face life imprisonment at most.