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CoE: Capital punishment must be totally removed in all countries...

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  • CoE: Capital punishment must be totally removed in all countries...

    This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
    "Capital punishment must be totally removed in all countries which
    strive to uphold democracy, the rule of law and human rights," says PACE
    President

    Strasbourg, 10.10.2006 - "Capital punishment must be totally removed
    once and for all from the legislation of all countries which strive to
    uphold democracy, the rule of law and human rights," the President of
    the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), René van der
    Linden, said today to mark the World Day Against the Death Penalty.

    "The death penalty has been abolished in all our member states, with
    just one exception, the Russian Federation", Mr van der Linden said. He
    urged the Russian authorities to show, vis-à-vis public opinion in
    their country, the same determination and persuasiveness displayed by
    the other Council of Europe member states, which had the political will
    and courage to abolish the death penalty despite the potential
    unpopularity of the measure. "The sentence of life imprisonment of the
    only surviving Beslan terrorist was a clear signal of Russia's respect
    of a de facto moratorium on the death penalty, but I hope that this
    moratorium could soon result in a de jure abolition of the death
    penalty," he said.

    At the same time, he warned against all attempts to launch discussion on
    the re-introduction of the death penalty in Europe.

    He also recalled that at its June 2006 session, the Assembly had noted
    with concern that the separatist territories, not recognised
    internationally, of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and the Dnestr Moldavian
    Republic do not observe the abolition of the death penalty by Georgia
    and Moldova respectively. "The Assembly believes that the death penalty
    should be abolished in these territories and that the sentences of all
    prisoners currently on death row in Abkhazia and the Dnestr Moldavian
    Republic should be immediately commuted to terms of imprisonment in
    order to put an end to the cruel and inhuman treatment of those who have
    been kept on death row for years in a state of uncertainty as to their
    ultimate fate," he stressed.

    In respect of countries having observer status with the Council of
    Europe, he referred to earlier PACE Resolutions 1349 (2003)
    <http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=3 D/Documents/AdoptedText/ta03/ERES1349.htm> and 1253 (2001)
    <http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=3 Dhttp://assembly.coe.int/Documents/AdoptedText/TA0 1/ERES1253.htm> , in which the Assembly calls on Japan
    and the United States to place an immediate moratorium on executions and
    to take the necessary steps to abolish the death penalty. "The Assembly
    finds it inadmissible that these appeals have gone unheeded and that
    both Japan and the United States continue to apply the death penalty and
    violate their fundamental obligation to uphold human rights."

    He finally called on all countries in the world which have not yet
    abolished the death penalty to follow the lead given by the 46-nation
    Council of Europe, a de facto "death-penalty-free zone".

    Press Release
    Parliamentary Assembly Communication Unit
    Ref: 575a06
    Tel: +33 3 88 41 31 93
    Fax :+33 3 90 21 41 34
    [email protected]
    internet: www.coe.int/press

    The Parliamentary Assembly brings together 315 members from the national
    parliaments of the 46 member states.
    President: René van der Linden (Netherlands, EPP/CD); Secretary
    General of the Assembly: Mateo Sorinas.
    Political Groups: SOC (Socialist Group); EPP/CD (Group of the European
    People's Party); ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe);

    EDG (European Democratic Group); UEL (Group of the Unified European
    Left).
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