The initiatives of some British politicians regarding the revival of the death penalty in the country, sounded after the terrorist attack in Manchester, can be crowned with success, but this will put the country on the brink of secession from the Council of Europe. However, after Brexit the British will not be afraid. Another question is how the success of such an initiative will affect similar prospects for other death penalty admirers from among the members of the Council of Europe - for example, Turkey, and will it not turn out that the British will give them a "green light" with their best practices?.

The United Kingdom is one of the founders of the Council of Europe, whose members (including Russia and Turkey) are known to abstain from the death penalty. Becoming a pioneer in terms of exit from the EU and thus giving food for thought to the rest of its members, London and this time can pull the rest. Experience risks becoming contagious: in Russia, for example, almost half of the citizens support the death penalty (almost catching up with US statistics, which are not members of the Council of Europe and are practicing the death penalty). The intrigue also intensifies in the Turkish context: it was worth talking about like Erdogan, and on the part of the progressive Western world, a barrage of criticism fell on him, and now one of the most developed Western democracies promotes the same topic. Maybe the rule on the unacceptability of the death penalty is outdated, and it's time to change something?.

However, according to Russian experts, neither Erdogan nor Russia (if they want to get involved in this issue), the British experience would not "justify": no one is going to cancel double standards.

The so-called European values, with which Europe is very proud, is a relative concept, in addition, in recent years it has been used as a beautiful screen to hide the real policies of the EU member states, explains Ajdar Kurtov, a political scientist, historian, president of the Moscow Center for Public Awareness Studies.

All these values ??- including the value of human life and the prohibition of the death penalty - do not apply to everyone, although the value should be universal, permanent, without exceptions, especially in international rather than national law. But if the life of a British citizen is valued, and the life of a citizen of a Middle Eastern country is not (and it's not about terrorists, but about coalition forces, which includes the UK), and therefore it can be destroyed, this is not a value, says the expert..

In addition, talk about the presence of some values ??in Europe is usually used to put a certain barrier between the West and all the others in order to look attractive and lure to the ranks of a regional organization (in particular, NATO, the Council of Europe, the EU) New members, including those who do not share these values ??either in theory or in practice - such as Ukraine and some others.

As for the death penalty, there is nothing apocalyptic in its existence, the analyst notes: this measure of punishment is known to mankind since ancient times and, if there are grounds, can be used today. Moreover, the public mood is changing: if 30 years ago, Britain did not know such a rampant terrorism, nowadays terrorist attacks take place there with enviable regularity, creating the appropriate public request. Citizens do not understand why in a situation where there is nothing sacred for terrorists, do they themselves have to adhere to certain pseudo-human rules that prevent an effective fight against evil? And this applies not only to terrorism.

Of course, politicians who voice such ideas try to saddle the trend and elect the electorate, but there is a sound grain in their proposals: in the war all means are good, and if in general the war justifies such measures, they can be completely extended to private cases.

The consequences of such a referendum - if successful - will not harm the British much: if they, despite all the costs, decided to leave the EU, the leading integration structure, then they will be able to sacrifice much less important membership in the Council of Europe, Ajdar Kurtov believes.. The last decision will be much less painful - of course, if the political class agrees to this. So, although the prestige of membership in the Council of Europe for many governments is even more important than financial losses - for example, from secession from the EU, a referendum is still possible. And if the issue of the revival of the death penalty will be supported on it, there are no specific legislative obstacles to its implementation in England, the interlocutor of "Utra".

It can be safely assumed that there are many opponents of this decision. Liberal opponents of the death penalty usually refer to judicial errors, t. A certain percentage of unfair sentences, but this percentage is not so great, such cases are rather an exception. And an exception should not be a factor, the expert believes.

As for Erdogan, and in relation to him, and in relation to other possible followers of this idea, the rules of the game, by virtue of the specifics, will be different. Moreover, in the case of Turkey, the death penalty, according to the fears of many, will not be used as a criminal law norm, but as a mechanism for political repression - which in the case of Great Britain can still not be feared. "Different conditions and motivation of the authorities: there are serious doubts about Turkey that the circle will be limited to those who really deserve the death penalty," the analyst explains..

Change the internal conditions of the Council of Europe, too, will not have to: for this reason there are not enough grounds and "activists". Britain is a special case, and most of the countries of the Council of Europe are occupied with other issues.

For example, Russia will not follow Britain, the expert said: if Russia now starts to initiate such a question, in the conditions of ongoing sanctions, our country's opponents will receive an additional trump card for accusing the "bloodthirsty aggressor". And to refer to the British will not work: as experience in Syria and Iraq shows, similar events are often interpreted by the West from diametrically opposite positions. The same will happen on the issue of the death penalty, the expert concluded.