[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 5




INDIA:

Death Sentence In Nirbhaya Case Must Be Revisited: Amicus Sanjay Hegde


Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde, 1 of the 2 amicus curiae appointed by the Supreme 
Court in the Nirbhaya case, has submitted before the Court that there is no 
evidence to prove conspiracy in the Nirbhaya rape and murder case.

He was arguing before a 3-judge bench comprising Justice Dipak Misra, Justice R 
Banumathi and Justice Ashok Bhushan hearing the case.

He submitted that in the absence of proof of conspiracy by the appellants to 
cause the death of the prosecutrix, coupled with the failure of the prosecution 
to provide clear evidence with respect to the overt acts of each of the 
appellants in causing the death of the prosecutrix, the death sentences ought 
to be revisited.

"In the present case, insofar as the lack of planning or premeditation 
regarding the crime is concerned, it can be said that the accused did not plan 
the offence in detail or carry out the plan in a calculated manner which 
signifies the absence of anti-social predisposition or hardened criminality. 
While there is no doubt that the manner of the commission of the crime was 
brutal, it is premeditation and planning which determines the disposition of 
the accused, and the lack of pre-mediation or reflection on the actions of the 
accused should be considered in determining the possibility of reform of the 
accused."

No Common Object

Advocate Hegde submitted that the common object of the appellants to kill the 
prosecutrix, and to do so with the help of the iron rods, has not been 
established by the prosecution.

"The iron rods, which have been used in the present case, are an organic part 
of a bus, and are present at all times for use in the bus. The appellants in 
the present case were not armed with the iron rods with the plan of causing 
death to the prosecutrix, when they picked her up on the night of 16 December 
2012. The common object of the appellants to kill the prosecutrix, and to do so 
with the help of the iron rods, has not been established by the prosecution. 
Further, the prosecution has not been able to ascribe individual acts on any of 
the appellants before this court with respect to the use of the iron rods, 
which resulted in the death of the prosecutrix.", he submitted.

No Crime Test, Criminal Test

Regarding the sentence, he submitted that while the impugned judgment considers 
the brutality of the crime, the mitigating circumstances of the crime test, 
including the nature of planning and committing the crime for each appellant 
through an individualised sentencing process, has not been considered.

"All appellants were convicted of the offences of rape and murder together, 
without considering the appropriate aggravating and mitigating circumstances 
for both the 'crime test' and the 'criminal test'."

Relying on precedents, Hegde submitted that, not considering the mitigating 
circumstance by giving it due weight and not offering special reasons to 
explain the balancing of the aggravating and mitigating circumstances goes 
against the sentencing policy laid down in s.354(3) of the CrPC which 
recognises that the death sentence is an exception to the general rule.

Sanjay Hegde was assisted by Anil Mishra Advocate on Record, Pranjal Kishore, 
S. Nithin, Atul Vinod.

He also received assistance from Yash Vijay & Sahana Manjesh of Death Penalty 
Centre of National Law School Delhi.

Earlier, Senior Advocate Raju Ramachandran, the other amicus curiae in the case 
also submitted that the order on sentence passed by the Trial Court on 
11.9.2013 and confirmed by the High Court, ought to be set aside for violating 
the fundamental norms of sentencing, constitutionally ingrained, statutorily 
reflected and judicially interpreted by the Apex Court. He also submitted that 
both the high court and trial court grossly erred in imposing death penalty to 
the accused without considering the circumstances relating to the criminals.

(source: livelaw.in)






BELARUS:

LAST PRISONER ON DEATH ROW AT RISK


Urgent Action

Siarhei Vostrykau is the last known prisoner on death row in Belarus after the 
authorities executed the other remaining three prisoners on death row on 5 
November. Siarhei Vostrykau is at imminent risk of execution.

Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:

* Urging President Lukashenka to halt the execution of Siarhei Vostrykau and 
immediately commute his death sentence;

* Calling on President Lukashenka to establish an immediate moratorium on 
executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty;

* Stress that whilst we are not seeking to downplay the seriousness of the 
crime, research shows that the death penalty does not deter crime more than 
other forms of imprisonment and is the ultimate denial of human rights.

Contact these 2 officials by 16 January, 2017:

President

Alyaksandr Lukashenka

Vul. Karla Marksa 38

220016 Minsk, Belarus

Fax: +375 17 226 06 10
+375 17 222 38 72
Email: contact at president.gov.by

Salutation: Dear President Lukashenka

Charge d'Affaires Mr. Pavel Shidlovsky

Embassy of Belarus

1619 New Hampshire Ave NW, Washington DC 20009

Fax: 1 202 986 1805 // Phone: 1 202 986 9420

Email: usa at mfa.gov.by

Salutation: Dear Ambassador

(source: Amnesty International USA)