Russia's Constitutional Court has ruled that the government must extend a moratorium on the death penalty until the nation moves to fully ban executions.

Thursday's ruling from Constitutional Court chief Valery Zorkin came as the moratorium on capital punishment imposed in 1999 was set to expire in January, when jury trials are to be introduced in Chechnya.

The moratorium, agreed to after Russia joined the Council of Europe, had specified that courts must not hand out death sentences until jury trials are available in all of Russia's provinces.

Thursday's court ruling said this must be extended until Russia ratifies a European convention banning capital punishment, effectively outlawing the death penalty.

Russia has pledged to abolish the death penalty, but parliament has been reluctant to do so, citing broad public support, particularly in regions such as the North Caucasus where cases involve terrorism.

'Many support the death penalty'

"The State Duma hasn't yet ratified the protocol banning capital punishment because many in Russia support the death penalty," said Mikhail Krotov, President Dmitry Medvedev's envoy to the Constitutional Court.

"The society needs more time to ban the death penalty," he said. "But the government structures support a ban on capital punishment."

Mikhail Margelov, the head of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of parliament, said the government should lead the cause and take quick action.

"The country's leadership, all branches of government, must be ready to show a political will," Margelov said, according to RIA Novosti news agency. "Modernization can't be conducted without that."

The last use of the death penalty in Russia was in 1996, the year it joined the Council of Europe.

Canada abolished capital punishment from the Criminal Code in 1976, and for military offences in 1998.

With files from The Associated Press