The death penalty is also legal in countries where it figures on thestatute book. It figured on the statute books of most countries before theSecond World War. After the war, in response to a public movement against thedeath penalty, many countries have re-considered the advisability of continuingto have it on their statute book. The members of the European Union haveabolished the death penalty. Russia has the death penalty on its statute book,but has not enforced it since 1996 despite the aggravation of jihadi terrorismin Chechnya and Dagestan, due to pressure from the Council of Europe toabolish the death penalty. In 1996, Mr. Boris Yeltsin, the then RussianPresident, passed an order keeping in abeyance the enforcement of the deathpenalty. His order was upheld by the Constitutional Court. Since then, no jihaditerrorist has been executed in Russia. Of late, there has been a demand forrevising this decision in order to control jihadi terrorism.