[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 4




SRI LANKA:

Sirisena commutes death sentence of 60 prisoners to life


Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has commuted the death sentences of 
60 prisoners to life imprisonment in view of the country's 69th Independence 
Day which was celebrated on Saturday.

Prison's Commissioner Nishan Danasinghe told Xinhua the prisoners had their 
sentences commuted following a recommendation made by Justice Minister Wijedasa 
Rajapakse.

Rajapakse made this recommendation based on a report of an expert committee he 
had appointed to look into the commutation of death sentences to life 
imprisonment.

Most of the prisoners who had their sentences commuted were charged with 
murder.

Some of them also included prisoners who were in Sri Lankan jails for many 
years.

Although Sri Lankan courts have handed out the death penalty in serious crimes 
such as murder, rape and drug trafficking, no executions have been carried out 
in the island country since 1976.

All death penalty cases have been commuted to life in prison.

(source: The New Indian Express)






INDIA:

New twist in Nirbhaya case: Supreme Court bench agrees to re-examine the DEATH 
PENALTY awarded to 4 accused in 2012 rape case


Kindling hope in the minds of 4 convicts in the Nirbhaya case, the Supreme 
Court said it will re-examine the death penalty awarded to them by the trial 
court which was upheld by the Delhi High Court.

Giving sudden twist to the sensational case, a bench headed by justice Dipak 
Misra took the decision after accepting the submission of amicus curiae (Raju 
Ramachandran.

Ramachandran claimed that there has been violation of the criminal procedure 
code (CPC) with regards to the sentencing of the 4 convicts.

The amicus primarily said that charges and nature of crime alleged against each 
one of them were separate and all of them could not have been sentenced to 
death in one brush without hearing them separately.

Justice Misra said: 'There are two modes to deal with the matter -remand the 
case back to trial court or allow the accused to produce necessary data and 
advance submissions on sentencing.'

'We think the 2nd mode is appropriate. We would like to give opportunity to 
accused to file affidavits along with documents stating mitigating 
circumstances.'

Significantly, Ramachandran had also argued that the four convicts - Mukesh 
(24), Pawan (20), Vinay (22) and Akshay (29) were too young to be hanged.

Ramachandran had pointed out that the apex court had held in the famous 1980 
Bachan Singh case that a balance sheet of 'mitigating and aggravating 
circumstances' have to be drawn before sentencing a person to death.

Indian courts hand out capital punishment in the 'rarest of rare' cases, but it 
is rarely carried out.

'The crime was not premeditated,' he said.

'There is no evidence on record to deem the rape and murder was a pre-planned 
act.'

'The accused did not know victim and had any occasion to believe she would be 
present at the relevant spot on the fateful day.

'Trial court failed to even consider this factor which has been treated as a 
mitigating factor,' said Justice Misra.

(source: dailymail.co.uk)