World Day Against the Death Penalty: The fight is far from being over, says Assembly President
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Written by transnistria.info
Tuesday, 11 October 2005
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The Council of Europe is rightly proud of its achievement in making a de facto death-penalty-free zone of its 46 members, but the fight is far from being over,? Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly President Renƒ?? van der Linden said today in a statement on the occasion of the World Day Against the Death Penalty.
Belarus and Uzbekistan are the last executioners in the former Soviet space. The Uzbek authorities recently informed me that they are now ready to undertake serious steps towards the abolition of the death penalty. This move shall be supported by the Assembly,? he said.
In June the Assembly urged Russia to ratify Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights abolishing the death penalty,? Renƒ?? van der Linden said, recalling that Russia has already instituted a moratorium on executions. The Assembly has also called on the Palestinian Authority to re-introduce an immediate moratorium on executions and abolish the death penalty within two years as well as to launch a campaign in favour of abolition.?
The Council of Europe should also draw attention to the situation in Abkhazia, Transnistria and South Ossetia, whose internationally-unrecognised regimes have not yet abolished the death penalty.?
Mr van der Linden made clear that the Assembly will continue dialogue with the United States and Japan in order to encourage abolition of the death penalty in these two Council of Europe observer states, which, he said, consider themselves as members of our community of shared values?.
In 2006, the Assembly will present a report on the abolition of the death penalty in Council of Europe member and observer states.
Finally he called for the release of the five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor facing the death penalty in Libya after being found guilty of deliberately infecting with HIV/AIDS some 426 children in a Benghazi hospital. In line with a recommendation passed by the Assembly last week, he said we believe they are innocent and are being used as scapegoats for a dilapidated Libyan health system.?
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Last Updated ( Monday, 09 April 2007 )
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