EXPRESS-CHRONICLE, NEWS DIGEST n.1800 (night edition)

23 November 1995, Thursday

DONETSK. <08>

"ONE OFTEN ENCOUNTERS REPORTS IN THE PRESS THAT PASS OFF THE POLITICAL DECISION FOR A MORATORIUM ON THE DEATH PENALTY IN THE UKRAINE AS A LEGAL ONE, BUT THERE IS NEITHER A DECREE NOR A LAW ON THIS MATTER," states Gennadi Vasiliev, the Donetsk region prosecutor and a people's deputy of the Ukraine Gennadi Vasiliev, in an article devoted to the problem of the imposition of the death penalty in the Ukraine. It was published by the city newspaper "Vechernaya Donetsk" on 22 November. In the prosecutor's opinion, the conditions for the abolition of the death penalty in the Ukraine have still not been created. Referring to an unnamed deputy foreign minister of the Ukraine, Vasiliev underlined that the recommendations of the Council of Europe regarding the death penalty "do not have an obligatory character, demanding their undeviating implementation."