[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 12






IRAN:

On World Day Against the Death Penalty, Iran Is Moving in the Wrong Direction



Thursday marked the 17th annual World Day Against the Death Penalty, and thus 
it provided another opportunity for human rights advocates to highlight Iran’s 
status as the world’s second most prolific user of capital punishment. Yet the 
Iranian regime hold the record of execution per capita.

Furthermore, the figures that have been recorded so far in 2019, especially 
since the appointment of a new judiciary head in March, suggest that the 
numbers of executions are rebounding. This came as little surprise to those who 
are familiar with Iran’s new top law enforcement official, whose appointment by 
the clerical Supreme Leader.

Ebrahim Raisi is notorious for human rights violations, including but not 
limited to his prominent role in the interrogation and summary execution of 
political prisoners and members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran 
(PMOI, Mujahedin-e Khalq or MEK) in 1988. An estimated 30,000 individuals were 
killed as part of that massacre, with victims including young teenagers. In 
this way, it set the stage for a number of issues related to the death penalty 
which persist to the present day.

Iran is one of the last countries in the world to continue carrying out capital 
sentences for persons who were under the age of 18 at the time of their 
offenses. And the judiciary has been widely and repeatedly condemned for its 
failure to consider any mitigating factors when sentencing prisoners to the 
death penalty. Mental illness, self-defense, and a history of abuse all stand 
alongside youth as examples of such factors. But juvenile execution is unique 
in being categorically outlawed by 2 international documents that Iran has 
signed.

The Iranian regime routinely rejects such provisions, in spite of the 
signature, by characterizing them as cultural impositions which should not be 
allowed to override the clerical regime’s adherence to a hardline 
interpretation of sharia law. On this basis, Tehran continues to regard boys as 
legally mature at the age of 13, and girls at only nine. Under constant 
international pressure, the government did alter the law to allow judges to 
consider lesser sentences for youthful offenders, but in practice, this 
principle is rarely used.

Consequently, at least 2 juvenile offenders have been executed so far this 
year. Human rights activists rely on independent reporters and prisoners 
themselves to uncover executions that might otherwise have gone unreported.

Iran Human Rights Monitor has reported figures spanning the time between its 
annual reports on capital punishment in Iran, which are released to coincide 
with World Day Against the Death Penalty. Between October 2018 and September 
2019, at least 273 executions were reportedly carried out across the country. 
Of these, eight were juvenile offenders.

Ebrahim Raisi’s appointment as head of the judiciary took place just at the 
halfway point of the period covered by the Iran Human Rights Monitor report. 
And that report underscores the fact that the vast majority of the executions 
took place in the latter half, with Ebrahim Raisi overseeing 173 of them. The 
spike in executions was accompanied by a spike in overall repression, and IHRM 
finds that at least six of the state’s victims were political prisoners. 
However, a number of other previously-reported executions may also fall under 
this category, as Tehran frequently depends on vague charges like “spreading 
corruption on earth” or “enmity against God” to justify capital sentences.

The public display or broadcast of female dancing is illegal in the Islamic 
Republic, and this is another area of social behavior that has seemingly been 
targeted by Raisi’s judiciary at the same time that his courts are driving up 
the rate of executions. On Tuesday alone, at least 3 young women were detained 
for posting videos of themselves dancing, and at least one reported that her 
family had been threatened not to speak publicly about the case.

This, too, is a common phenomenon in Iran’s criminal justice system. Struggling 
to keep a veil of secrecy over the country’s human rights record, officials 
tend to insist that criminal cases will be resolved quickly and more favorably 
if they remain undisclosed. But in reality, secretive cases do not seem to 
proceed any more quickly; and in fact, silence can sometimes have fatal 
consequences insofar as it gives law enforcement officials an opportunity to 
keep detainees in isolation where they can be more easily tortured to elicit 
false confessions.

Although a number of high profile individuals have died under these conditions 
in recent years, their deaths are not tallied among those who have been hanged 
in Iranian jails. As such, anti-death penalty activism directly addresses only 
a portion of the fatal problems with Iran’s judiciary and prisons.

(source: irannewsupdate.com)

***********************

Record Holder Of Executions



Several international human rights organizations, including Amnesty 
International and Global Solidarity against the Death Penalty, proclaimed 
October 10 as “International Day against the Death Penalty”. October 10 is the 
International Day against Execution. Execution has historically been a tool of 
power and of dictatorships to intimidate and surrender of the people. But in 
Iran, there are gallows raised daily for the survival of Iran’s religious 
dictator.

Given the sheer volume of government censorship and the prohibition of the 
activities of independent human rights groups in Iran, although it is not 
possible to report an accurate and complete report on the human rights 
situation, particularly executions in Iran, but according to international 
institutions, Iran has the highest number of execution of its citizens in the 
world per capita.

On April 1, 2009, Amnesty International released its annual report on the use 
of the death penalty in year 2018, saying: “At least 253 Iranian citizens were 
executed during the 1-year period (January 1 to December 31, 2018). Iran still 
executes more than 1/3 of all executions registered worldwide, and 195 others 
have been sentenced to death. Among those executed the execution of 6 children, 
as well as 13 public executions must be noted.”

According to the report, more than 72% of executions in Iran are not reported 
by the government or the judiciary, which they call “secret” executions 
(Amnesty International, April 9, 2019).

According to Amnesty International’s annual report, Iran still ranks 2nd in the 
world in terms of number of executions and number one in terms of population! 
It is also a record holder of arbitrary arrests, given the existence of torture 
and lack of due process. Arbitrary arrests, detention and ill-treatment, 
depriving defendants of a lawyer in a legal proceeding, spread of factions 
within the government in the judicial process, forced confessions of the 
defendants under torture, extrajudicial and secret executions characterize 
medieval judicial in Iran.

The most shocking executions in Iran

“One of the most shocking executions in Iran was the execution of Zeinab 
Sekaanvand, who was only 17 years old at the time of her arrest. She was 
sentenced to death in an unjust trial for the murder of a spouse who allegedly 
abused her with domestic violence. She reported that she had been tortured 
during her detention to “confess”. (Amnesty International press release)

Responding to the horrific news that 24-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Zeinab 
Sekaanvand was executed early this morning in Urumieh central prison, West 
Azerbaijan province, Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Research and 
Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said:

“The execution of Zeinab Sekaanvand is a sickening demonstration of the Iranian 
authorities’ disregard for the principles of juvenile justice and international 
human rights law. Zeinab was just 17 years old at the time of her arrest. Her 
execution is profoundly unjust and shows the Iranian authorities’ contempt for 
the right of children to life.” (Amnesty International, 1 October 2018)

The story of the execution of children is a tragedy in Iran. All governments 
around the world, however, have ratified conventions requiring under no 
circumstances to execute juvenile offenders – those who were under 18 at the 
time of the crime.

While international conventions such as the rights of the child set the age of 
punishment for both sexes to be 18 years, the medieval clerical regime has set 
the age of punishment for boys as 15, and for girls as 9. Iran is one of a 
handful of countries that still issues death sentences for juvenile offenders, 
but implements them after they are 18.

The report by the Special Rapporteur on the Execution of Children and Juveniles 
states: “In 2018, 7 executions of child offenders were reported, and there are 
currently about 90 people awaiting execution, all of whom were under the age of 
18 at the time of the alleged crime. Among the latest cases, on April 25, 2019, 
2 17-year-old teenagers Mehdi Sohrabi Far and Amin Sedaghat were executed at 
Adelabad Prison in Shiraz, Fars province. These 2 were reportedly forced to 
confess under torture … The execution of child offenders is absolutely 
forbidden and must end immediately. “(United Nations site, August 16, 2019)

Amnesty International said in a statement, “Iran: The Last Executioner of 
Children,” that 24 children have been executed in Iran since 1990 pf whom 11 
were children under the age of 18.

Record of executions during the Rouhani’s tenure

The human rights situation in the 2 terms of Rouhani’s presidency reflects the 
deteriorating human rights record of the mullahs over the past 40 years.

Although a precise record of executions has never been officially announced by 
the mullahs, but lawyers and human rights sources have reported more than 3600 
executions during Rouhani’s tenure. According to government press reports, at 
least 110 people were executed in Iran in the first 6 months of the year.

96 women were executed during Rouhani’s presidency

The number of women executed during Rouhani’s presidency reaches 96. 7 of these 
women have been executed in the 3-month period since the beginning of summer. 
It should be noted that the actual number of executions is much higher because 
the majority of executions in Iran are secretly carried out, far from the 
public eye, where only perpetrators and agents can witness.

The Perspective for Iran of Tomorrow

If there are still execution gallows to maintain the rule of the religious 
dictator in Iran, it is because the Iranian people are resisting. A resistance 
in progress. Resistance units have spread throughout Iran. The Iranian 
resistance, led by a woman, encompasses all religious and ethnic minorities in 
Iran, advocating the abolition of the death penalty.

Maryam Rajavi, an anti-fundamentalist Muslim woman, says: “Our plan is to 
revive friendship and tolerance. Our plan for the future is to abolish the 
mullahs’ laws. We reject the Criminal Code and other human rights violations in 
this regime. We consider the rules of retribution inhumane. We defend a law 
based on forgiveness and compassion and humanity. “

(source: Op-Ed; Hamid Enayat is an Iranian human rights activist and analyst 
based in Europe----Eurasia Review)








BAHRAIN:

Death penalty proposed for dealing in nuclear materials



The death penalty and fines up to BD1 million could be imposed on those who 
import, store, transport or bury nuclear materials or waste. The tough 
punishment has been drafted by the government as part of a new 125-article 
Environment Law, which is scheduled for debate by MPs during their session on 
Tuesday.

(source: gdnonline.com)








SAUDI ARABIA:

Saudi Continues to Violate Human Rights: ESOHR



The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) said on Thursday that 
the Riyadh regime has been withholding the bodies of 83 dissidents killed by 
Saudi forces since 2016, and has refused to hand them over to their families. 
There are a number of minors among the detained bodies, Arabic-language Mirat 
al-Jazeera news website reported.

The ESOHR further noted that Saudi officials resort to the policy of collective 
punishment, without paying any attention to the right to life.

Instead of relying on fair trials, Saudi authorities depend on a politicized 
judiciary that uses torture, intimidation and harassment of detainees as a 
credible way to level fabricated accusations against defendants and extract 
coerced confessions, the rights organization said.

The ESOHR went on to say that death sentences against a large number of 
activists and dissidents are upheld on the basis of confessions extracted under 
duress, and that Saudi authorities are making use of various methods of torture 
without paying any attention to the magnitude of prisoner abuse.

“For the first time, Saudi Arabia has set a new record in its history of 
executions. The authorities have carried out 159 executions since the beginning 
of the current year up until September 28, thus registering a new record. The 
number of executions may exceed 200 by the end of the year if it continues at 
the same rate,” it said.

The ESOHR highlighted that executions have been carried out at an increasing 
rate ever since King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud succeeded to throne on 
January 23, 2015.

“A total of 147 executions were carried out in 2018, while 146 executions were 
ordered the previous year. In 2016, 154 people were put to death. A total of 
157 were executed in the preceding year as well,” the rights organization said.

The ESOHR underscored that 39 dissidents are currently facing capital 
punishment, adding that many of the death penalty appeals are based on written 
statements after torture, coercion and deception.

Saudi Arabia has lately stepped up politically-motivated arrests, prosecution 
and conviction of peaceful dissident writers and human rights campaigners.

Over the past years, Riyadh has also redefined its anti-terrorism laws to 
target activism.

(source: tasnimnews.com)








NIGERIA:

Why death penalty is not deterring abductors, by lawyers



Lawyers have adduced reasons why kidnapping remains a lucrative “business” 
across the country despite the prescription of death penalty for the offence in 
some states.

Meanwhile, soldiers have rescued some of the kidnapped Kaduna students while 
the Police in Kano freed eight persons kidnapped in Anambra State, even as the 
Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Tukur Buratai, declared war against bandits and 
kidnappers across the country, especially in the north.

According to the National Coordinator of Legal Defence and Assistance Programme 
(LEDAP), Mr. Chino Obiagwu (SAN), the harshness of the punishment for crime is 
never a deterrent to crime; what deters or discourages crime is the high 
likelihood of apprehension of the offender.

He said a potential criminal doesn’t think of whether he/she would be punished 
with death or life imprisonment when he/she sets out to commit a crime, saying 
all he/she is mindful of is whether or not there is high possibility of arrest, 
saying: “In fact when he thinks about the punishment and if it is harsh, he 
will try to eliminate evidence, especially when he/she accosts someone who 
he/she thinks knows him/her. So, death penalty serves no deterrent purpose.”

State governors, Obiagwu said, would not sign death warrants because they know 
that the criminal justice system cannot guarantee that those convicted are 
actually guilty and would also not support death penalty openly because of 
public opinions, as politicians don’t like going against public opinion.

He noted that public opinion can sometimes be in favour of injustice as a 
result of uninformed prejudices and it is the duty of a political leader to do 
the right things, even if contrary to public opinion.

The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Akwa Ibom State, where 
death penalty was signed into law since 2010, said the law is very effective 
because last year, the state secured conviction of about 6 kidnappers and 
another 6 this year, including two policemen. But they have not been executed 
because they have gone on appeal.

He insists that the law was deterring would-be kidnappers, “because it has 
substantially reduced the numbers of kidnapping cases we have in Akwa Ibom. 
Kidnapping is virtually less than 2 % of the total rate of crime in the state.

“It is my humble opinion that the capital punishment has deterred kidnapping in 
the state, but beyond conviction and trials, the state government has deployed 
modern technologies, at very high cost, into fighting kidnapping, including 
tracking machines.

“This has brought more peace into the state. Kidnapping is absolutely not an 
attractive business in Akwa Ibom.”

In Cross River State, the law prescribing death sentence has not been effective 
since it came into effect in 2015.

Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Governor Ben Ayade, Mr. Christian 
Ita, said he was not aware if any conviction or death sentence has been brought 
before the governor for signing since the law became effective.

A legal practitioner in Calabar, Mr. Etim Inyang, said: “For me, the law is not 
effective because most of the kidnapping cases at the Federal High Court rely 
on the administrative law of justice of the federation.

“However, there is need for advocacy for people to be conscious and aware of 
such law and it needs to be gazetted. We need to enlighten the people on it. 
For now, most of the kidnap cases are being charged under the criminal code, 
especially when they are charged at the Federal High Court.”

National President, Campaign for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Malachy 
Ugwummadu, recalled that October 10 every year is marked globally as the World 
Day Against Death Penalty. He is against death penalty or execution of 
offenders, warning: “The law on capital punishment or death penalty only 
focuses on the perpetrator of the alleged capital offence without consideration 
of the apparent rights of the child or children of the offender to be executed.

“The need for the consideration of the right of the child or children of the 
parent who is a death row detainee could form the apparent justification of the 
call by Abolitionists for the global abolition of the death penalty and repeal 
of all laws that provide for capital punishment or death sentence.

“Thus, the death penalty could be condemned on the grounds that it is cruel, 
degrading, inhumane, insensitive to the rights of children to parental care, 
where the offender on death row, just to be executed, is a parent.

“It is a fallacy to hold a view that more cruel punishments, such as the death 
penalty, will deter crime and criminality, considering the high level of 
prevalence of violent crimes in our society, including kidnapping, insurgency, 
militancy, banditry, armed robbery, cultism, extra-judicial killings, etc.

“Such views that crueller punishment, such as death penalty would deter crime 
would have failed to take into account that there are complex socio-economic, 
political and other factors that drive crime rates and criminals would usually 
not plan to be caught or even think about the consequences of their criminal 
acts.

“In effect, it has not served the purpose of deterrence, as shown by research 
and statistics across the globe, in the same way that the State may be 
condescending to the same level of the offender, if the only way it could 
respond to the malfeasance of the offender is to commit exactly the same 
offence through capital punishment.”

He continued: “Death penalty deprives people of the opportunity for reform, 
rehabilitation or correction. Many death row detainees had acknowledged their 
crimes and have genuinely reformed. Therefore, there is no need or benefit 
whatever for the state to still execute such people, else it will be a 
senseless deprivation of life.

“The death penalty is largely unfair, as most of the instances affect 
overwhelmingly on the working class, the poor or marginalised persons or 
groups, not because they are simply prone to crime, but because they have less 
access to legal resources. The legal resources are available to a person 
certainly makes a whole difference.

“Finally, all the methods of execution of the offender are considered cruel. 
Firing squad (shooting), hanging, poisoning, injecting lethal substance or 
administering chemical to execute the offender is certainly cruel and inhumane. 
Whichever way it is considered, executing the offender is not humane, not even 
close; it is simply vengeful and cruel. The death penalty should not have any 
relevance in our legal system and must be expunged from our corpus of laws.

“All our criminal laws still retaining provisions for the death penalty should 
be reviewed and such provisions must be repealed forthwith.”

Similarly, Senior Legal and Programme Officer, Human Rights Law Services 
(HURILAW), Collins Okeke, said death penalty does not deter criminals; but what 
really deters them is fear of apprehension.

“At the moment, our criminal justice system is too weak to apprehend anybody. 
The Police and other law enforcement agents lack basic tools to work. There are 
no robust crime database, forensic labs, etc. Until government invests in the 
critical infrastructure, kidnapping and other crimes will persist. Imposing the 
death penalty is a political distraction. In any case, a kidnapper must be 
first be caught and prosecuted before death penalty can be imposed.”

On why governors are not signing death warrants: “I believe most of them know 
that there are loopholes in our criminal justice system that question the 
morality of any execution. They know the challenges of the Police and the 
courts, as 80 per cent of death penalty convictions are based on confessional 
statements, most of which are obtained through torture. How can any governor 
sign death warrant on this information alone?”

He believed imposing death penalty against kidnapping is mostly political and 
governors’ own way of showing that they are tough on crime, adding: “But it 
does not deter crime; what will stop crime is efficient law enforcement.”

Meanwhile, combined forces of armed soldiers of Operation Thunder Strike have 
rescued the abducted students of Government Day Secondary School Gwagwada in 
Chikun Council in Kaduna State.

Worried by the activities of armed bandits, kidnappers and other criminals in 
the north, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai, has directed 
troops to declare war and deal ruthlessly with the criminals.

He stressed that the marauders and criminal elements in Zamfara, Katsina, 
Sokoto and other states must be rooted out, saying troops should deal 
decisively with all criminal elements in their areas of operations.

Addressing troops at the headquarters of 1 Brigade in Gusau, Zamfara State, 
yesterday, the Army chief commended the troops for their commitment and 
professional disposition, urging them to maintain aggressive posture against 
unrepentant bandits, kidnappers and cattle rustlers.

A statement by the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, One Division 
Nigerian Army, Col. E. D. Idimah said the troops, who were on routine patrol in 
the general area, received information from a reliable source that some bandits 
terrorising the Abuja-Kaduna highway had waylaid some students on their way to 
school and abducted them.

“Troops immediately swung into action and gave the bandits a hot chase. On 
sighting the troops, the bandits engaged them in a firefight, but had to 
surrender to the superior firepower of the troops. Following the firefight, one 
of the bandits was neutralised, while the rest scampered into different 
directions of the forest with gun-shot wounds.

“All the students abducted by the bandits were rescued safely and re-united 
with their families. Items recovered from them include one AK47 rifle with 7 
rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition and a pump action gun with 10 cartridges.”

Idimah added that troops were combing the entire forest in search of the 
bandits to ensure they are flushed out.

In Abia, the extant law cited as the Abia State Prohibition of Terrorism, 
Kidnapping, Hostage Taking, use of Offensive Weapons or Explosives and other 
threatening Behavior came into force on August 16, 2009.

The State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mr. Ngozi Joy Obioma, told The 
Guardian that some suspects have been facing prosecution in the court, 
insisting that the law has, to a large extent, impacted positively in reducing 
kidnapping in the state.

The Anambra State Criminal Code (Amendment) Law 2009 stipulates that government 
had the right to confiscate, destroy or turn properties belonging to kidnappers 
and their sponsors to some other use, in addition to blocking their sources of 
income. As a result, some properties of suspected kidnappers and their sponsors 
have been pulled down or confiscated by the state government over the years.

To curb kidnapping or reduce its incidence, a lawyer, Charles Emmy Nwokeke, 
urged government to address the problem of lack of access to education and 
joblessness, advocating stringent anti-kidnapping measures to deter would-be 
offenders.

According to him, death penalty, where promulgated, should be limited to 
kidnap-related offences, just as he called for the monitoring of security 
agents, their training and re-training, as well as equipping them with modern 
fighting weapons to win the war.

(source: guardian.ng)








UGANDA:

Parliament must reject bill imposing death penalty for gay sex



Responding to Ugandan Ethics and Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo’s announcement 
that the government is planning to introduce the death penalty for consensual 
same-sex sexual acts, Amnesty International’s Director for East Africa, the 
Horn and the Great Lakes, Joan Nyanyuki said:

“It is outrageous that instead of the Ugandan government taking urgent steps to 
decriminalize gay sex, they want gay people executed.”----Joan Nyanyuki, 
Amnesty International's Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes

“It is outrageous that instead of the Ugandan government taking urgent steps to 
decriminalize gay sex, they want gay people executed. This is going to fire-up 
more hatred in an already homophobic environment.

“This is an example of how Uganda’s politicians are stoking dangerous 
intolerance and bias against LGBTI people. Uganda’s MPs must resoundingly 
reject any plan to legalize this kind of bigotry and witch hunting of anyone 
who is perceived as being different.”

On 5 October, Brian Wassa, a gay paralegal succumbed to brain hemorrhage after 
been hacked in the head by unknown persons the previous day at his home in 
Kampala.

According to Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), an LGBTI organization, he is the 
fourth LGBTI person to have been killed in the past three months in the wake of 
heightened anti-LGBTI sentiments from political leaders. Others were a 
transwoman from Gomba district, a gay man in Kayunga district and another in 
Jinja.

The government of Uganda has a long history of anti-LGBTI advocacy.

(source: Amnesty International)

***********************

Activists defiant as Uganda proposes death penalty for gay sex



The Ugandan government's plan to reintroduce a bill that could impose the death 
penalty for homosexuality is being met with defiance from the LGBTQ community 
in the East African nation, activists told CNN.

Ugandan Ethics Minister Simon Lokodo, in an interview with local media 
Thursday, said present laws criminalizing gay sex - which in theory can come 
with a life sentence - were not tough enough.

When asked by a presenter on local NTV why the bill is being introduced now, 
Lokodo said, "The penal code only criminalizes the act [gay sex]. ...Now we're 
saying anything, like recruitment, promotion, exhibition...amounts to 
committing a crime against that law."

CNN made several calls to Lokodo but was unable to reach him for comment

'Legalized homophobia'

Uganda made headlines in 2009 when it introduced the anti-homosexuality bill 
that included a death sentence for gay sex. The country's lawmakers passed a 
bill in 2014, but they replaced the death penalty clause with a proposal of 
life in prison.

President Yoweri Museveni signed the bill but it was later annulled by the 
country's constitutional court on a technicality.

Museveni told CNN in an exclusive interview in 2014 that sexual behavior is a 
matter of choice and gay people are "disgusting."

But members of Uganda's LGBTQ community have vowed to fight this bid to 
reintroduce the bill.

Local activism played a major role in resisting the 2014 Bill.

"The bill was meant to make us go underground, but instead the community 
organized to fight," Clare Byarugaba, an LGBTQ activist at the human rights 
organization Chapter Four, told CNN.

This involved petitioning the courts to repeal the law, lobbying MPs and 
encouraging international partners to impose economic sanctions, Byarugaba 
said.

Byarugaba added that the community will resist "legalized homophobia" this time 
around, too.

The activist, who headed a coalition that successfully fought the last anti-gay 
law and now works with the parents of LGBTQ people in Uganda, said the 
government is "underestimating the resilience and strength that exists within 
the Ugandan LGBTQ community."

'Preach love, not hate'

In a Friday statement, Amnesty International called on Ugandan MPs to 
"resoundingly reject any plan to legalize this kind of bigotry and witch 
hunting of anyone who is perceived as being different."

Transgender activist Javan (officially named Ronald Mugisha) told CNN she was 
not surprised by the move and has also vowed to challenge the homophobic 
legislation.

"As Ugandans we have the right to be who we are," she said. "And Ugandans (need 
to) start respecting LGBT people. These are your children, they are sisters, 
they are mothers, they are brothers. ... Let's not preach hate but preach love. 
Together we stand as the LGBT community in Uganda."

Joan Nyanyuki, Amnesty International's director for East Africa, the Horn and 
the Great Lakes, described the move as "outrageous" and warned that it will " 
fire-up more hatred in an already homophobic environment."

Moral breakdown

Uganda is a socially conservative country, and in 2014 it introduced the 
Anti-Pornography Act which included a "mini-skirt ban." In recent years the law 
has resulted in the arrest of revenge porn victims.

In May, Uganda's "ex-gay" community petitioned Uganda's parliament to bring 
back the 2014 Anti-Homosexuality Bill to "create awareness on sexual 
orientation," according to a statement on the parliament website.

"If this Bill is re-tabled, it will help expose the extent of the moral 
breakdown especially with the children and the youth. We aim at promoting moral 
and spiritual values since they are just recruited and not born as gays or 
lesbians," the group's leader, George Oundo, was quoted as saying in the 
statement.

This petition came few days after Kenya's High Court ruled to uphold its own 
colonial anti-homosexuality law, which was being challenged by activists.

Arrests and attacks

Ugandan activists told CNN they have noted worrying trends of arrests and 
attacks on the LGBTQ community.

Last Friday, a young gay paralegal, Brian Wasswa, was bludgeoned to death at 
his home in Jinja, LGBT group Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) said.

According to Justine Balya at the Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum 
(HRAPF), this is the 3rd murder her organization has recorded of an LGBTQ 
community member in just 2 months. On August 2, a transgender woman was 
murdered in a mob attack by motorbike taxi drivers. On August 12, a gay man was 
beaten in Kampala and died 6 days later from the injuries he sustained, 
according to HRAPF.

"We are concerned about the current political environment and homophobic 
comments being made by government personnel," said Balya, referencing Lokodo's 
announcement, as well as Ugandan Minister for Security Gen. Elly Tumwine's 
claim that LGBTQ people are connected to "terrorism."

"All this is feeding the homophobia and violence against LGBT people," she 
added.

Accusations of terrorism by the Minister for Security linking the LGBTQ 
community to Bobi Wine, a Ugandan musician-turned-opposition politician - who 
has made homophobic comments publicly in the past - are false and a distraction 
tactic, activists say.

Byarugaba told CNN that the proposed reinstatement of the bill is likely being 
used as a "political decoy from the spate of the government's crackdown on Bobi 
Wine."

Trinah Kakyo, an LGBTQ fashion designer and activist, said that she believes 
the issue continues to resurface because "queerness confronts the oppressive 
systems we have in place, so it's been a main target of deviating the Ugandan 
public from actual social issues."

(source: CNN)




MALAYSIA:

Pope Francis thanks Johor Sultan for commuting death sentences of Mexican 
brothers



Pope Francis has expressed his gratitude to Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Ibni 
Almarhum Sultan Iskandar for commuting the death sentences of 3 Mexican 
brothers who were convicted for drug trafficking.

This was conveyed in a letter signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal 
Pietro Parolin, and personally delivered to Sultan Ibrahim at Istana Pasir 
Pelangi yesterday by Vatican Ambassador to Malaysia Archbishop Joseph Salvador 
Marino.

The letter read: “On behalf of His Holiness Pope Francis, I am writing to thank 
you for your act of clemency and subsequent help in the repatriation of 3 
Mexicans sentenced to death.”

The letter added: “His Holiness prays this act of compassion will be an 
encouragement for all people to renew their commitment to building a world 
marked by forgiveness, peace and a spirit of fraternal solidarity.

“Invoking upon Your Majesty and members of the Royal Family an abundance of joy 
and peace, Pope Francis reiterates his profound gratitude.”

Archbishop Marino later said the meeting with His Majesty was a cordial one and 
lasted almost 40 minutes.

“We were able to exchange views on matters of mutual interest, especially on 
fostering greater inter-religious relations,” he added.

Archbishop Marino also took the opportunity to invite Sultan Ibrahim to visit 
the Vatican embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

The Mexicans, Simon, Luis Alfonso and Jose Regino Gonzalez Villarreal, were 
arrested in a raid on a methamphetamine lab in Johor Baru in March 2008 and 
were sentenced to hang in 2012.

They had pleaded innocence, saying they had been hired to clean a building and 
were unaware there was drug in it.

Their conviction was upheld the following year.

(source: nst.com.my)








INDIA:

Death Penalty Waivers: Need For Consistency----The president’s commutation of 
death sentence given to Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted for Punjab CM Beant 
Singh’s assassination, stirs the debate on how the State should consider such 
petitions



How does the president of India decide the mercy petitions submitted to him by 
death row convicts? Article 72 of the Constitution which enables the president 
to consider such petitions, merely states that he shall have the power to grant 
pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit 
or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence in all cases 
where the sentence is one of death. The president’s power under Article 72 is 
unique in that it is uninfluenced by the finding of guilt of an accused by a 
court of law.

What factors influence a president to commute the death sentence of a convict, 
after the Supreme Court confirms it, exhausting all the legal remedies 
available to review and reverse it? Article 72 enables a president to exercise 
his moral authority over the judicial confirmation of guilt of an accused at 
the appellate stage. It also gives the president the powers to make a fresh 
appraisal of the materials which enabled various judicial forums to find the 
accused guilty, and deserving of the death penalty, considering the heinous 
nature of the offence committed. This power, unlike judicial power, in the 
words of an expert, is of the “wildest amplitude and uncircumscribed,” except 
that its exercise must be bona fide.

Although the president is bound by the advice of the council of ministers to 
reject or accept a mercy petition, he is also expected to ask the Government to 
reconsider such advice, in the light of his own opinion on whether in that case 
execution of the death sentence would be warranted. In some cases, concerns 
about the culpability of the mercy petitioner in the offence he was found to 
have committed could trigger a rethink.

In others, the socio-political milieu in which the offence was committed could 
justify reconsideration of the extreme penalty as being disproportionate. In 
yet other instances, the president may find justification in granting pardon to 
a convict, just as a gesture of goodwill, or to provide a healing touch to a 
community which may feel aggrieved that the convict has suffered a 
disproportionate punishment in the guise of waiting for the gallows all these 
years. The Constitution envisages such exceptions because the strict 
requirements of law would need to be tempered to reach a truly just outcome, 
howsoever one chooses to interpret it. The president exercises his power under 
Article 72 avowedly on behalf of the people, and therefore, his reasons for 
accepting or rejecting a mercy petition must be transparent, so as to make 
sense to the people at large.

Thus when the Union ministry of home affairs decided last month to commute the 
death sentence of Balwant Singh Rajoana, the convicted killer of Punjab Chief 
Minister Beant Singh, to life imprisonment, as a “humanitarian gesture” ahead 
of the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak, it 
was more than symbolism which guided its decision.

An explosion, triggered by terrorists outside the Civil Secretariat complex in 
Chandigarh on August 31, 1995, killed Chief Minister Beant Singh and 16 others, 
including three of his commandos in his inner security ring. It was established 
that Rajoana was a member of a terrorist outfit that went by the name of Babbar 
Khalsa and had conspired in the attack.

He was supposed to have been a back-up option in case the original plans 
failed. Rajoana, an accused in the case, was arrested in December 1995 and 
sentenced to death in 2006. The Punjab and Haryana High Court confirmed his 
death sentence in October 2010. So far, he has spent a total of 24 years in 
prison.

Of all the accused in the case, Rajoana alone confessed his guilt. He refused 
to engage a lawyer and did not even avail of legal aid through an appointed 
lawyer. In his confession recorded in January 1996, he claimed to have 
associated himself with the plot in order to avenge the desecration of the 
Golden Temple by the security forces during Operation Blue Star, which later 
resulted in the killing of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and the anti-Sikh 
pogrom in Delhi and elsewhere in 1984. He admitted to tying the belt containing 
the explosives on Dilawar Singh, the human bomb who blew himself up to 
assassinate Beant Singh. He said he could not deny his role when Dilawar and 
others had sacrificed their lives for it. Rajoana accused Beant Singh of having 
acquiesced in fake encounter killings, abductions and secret cremations by the 
security forces, and even of honouring and promoting the guilty.

More important, Rajoana did not appeal to the Supreme Court against the High 
Court’s confirmation of his death sentence. Nor did he permit anyone to submit 
a mercy petition on his behalf to the governor or the president. Rajoana also 
wrote his will, and reportedly donated his organs.

Rajoana’s honesty in admitting his guilt and refusing to defend himself may 
still not earn him enough sympathisers. The State, while deciding to commute 
his death sentence into life imprisonment, might not have considered his 
honesty as the sufficient reason for its leniency, as it could set a wrong 
precedent.

Instead, the present government at the centre appears to be sending a subtle 
message by its decision on Rajoana that the then Congress government had 
adopted questionable methods to stamp out militancy in Punjab, and Rajoana was 
a result of that flawed pursuit with scant regard for human rights.

The centre has also decided to release 8 Sikh prisoners, convicted under the 
Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), in contravention 
of the official policy. There were widespread protests not just in India but 
abroad too over the death sentence which was scheduled for March 2012, but a 
stay was obtained on a plea filed by the Shiromani Akali Dal leaders Parkash 
Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir, and the SGPC. Then, in August last year, the 
Badals and SGPC chief Gobind Singh Longowal met the then Home Minister Rajnath 
Singh, demanding that Rajoana’s death sentence be commuted to life 
imprisonment.

While the decision on Rajoana has indeed sent a message of compassion and of 
healing touch to the Sikh psyche across the country, the feeling whether the 
centre does so selectively persists.

President Ram Nath Kovind, since assuming office in July 2017, has so far 
rejected the mercy petition of one death row convict, Jagat Rai, on April 23 
last year. The accused in this case were found guilty of murdering a family of 
6 for non-withdrawal of a complaint filed by an informant over theft of his 
buffalo at Raghopur in Vaishali district, Bihar. The deceased included the 
informant’s wife and their five children. The Supreme Court found 2 of the 
accused to be deserving of no sympathy, in view of the heinous nature of their 
crime, and their complicity in it. The socio-economic factors behind this 
gruesome murder, however, could justify a rethink by the State, as execution of 
the death penalty by itself would not bring closure to the underlying roots of 
conflict in rural India.

A recent study carried out by the Death Penalty Research Project (DPRP) of the 
National Law University, Delhi, has revealed that 74.1 % of the death row 
prisoners are economically vulnerable, according to their occupation and 
landholding. Amongst the states with 10 or more prisoners sentenced to death, 
Kerala had the highest proportion of economically vulnerable prisoners with 14 
out of 15 prisoners falling in this category. Other states which had 75 % or 
more prisoners sentenced to death belonging to the economically vulnerable 
category were Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka and 
Maharashtra.

Amongst the states with a substantial number of prisoners on death row, Bihar 
(35.3 %) and Karnataka (34.1 %) had the highest proportion of prisoners who had 
never attended school.

While the national ratio for prisoners sentenced to death who did not complete 
their secondary education is 62 %, states like Gujarat, Kerala, Jharkhand, 
Maharashtra, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh had a large population of prisoners under 
this category.

The study also disclosed that 76 % of prisoners sentenced to death belong to 
backward classes and religious minorities. “While the purpose is certainly not 
to suggest any causal connection or direct discrimination, disparate impact of 
death penalty on marginalised and vulnerable groups must find a prominent place 
in the conversation on the death penalty,” the report concluded.

The proportion of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes amongst all prisoners 
sentenced to death in India is 24.5 %, the study further revealed. This 
proportion is significantly higher in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, 
Bihar, Jharkhand and Delhi, amongst the states with 10 or more prisoners 
sentenced to death. Religious minorities comprised a disproportionate share of 
the prisoners sentenced to death in Gujarat, Kerala and Karnataka, the DPRP 
report found.

Prisoners on death row are treated differently from the moment they are 
sentenced to death by the trial courts, despite the bar against their execution 
until confirmation of death sentence by the High Court, and during the pendency 
of their appeals in the Supreme Court, and their mercy petitions with the 
governor or the president. “In many prisons, these differences have been 
extended to prohibition on work, lack of interaction with general prison 
population or prohibition from participating in prison activities,” the study 
added.

The commutation of the death sentence awarded to Rajoana to life imprisonment 
should hopefully lead to a review of the utility of the death penalty as a form 
of punishment in our criminal justice system.

It is neither shown to have deterred crime, nor considered an adequate 
punishment to render effective justice even in the rarest of rare cases.

Justification for the death penalty as an answer for society’s cry for justice, 
and its commutation purportedly to bring about social peace are inconsistent 
with each other.

(source: indialegallive.com)




AFGHANISTAN:

2 Taliban fighters were hanged by their commanders in Ghour



According to reports from Ghour province, 2 Taliban fighters were hanged by 
their commanders. Reports indicate that these 2 fighters are said to have been 
sentenced to death by the Taliban’s tribunal court on charges of betraying the 
group and were hanged today. The incident took place in the Chahar Sada 
district of Ghour province.

Meanwhile, a member of the Ghour Provincial Council, who did not want to be 
named, told the Pasbanan Media Group: “The Taliban last night hanged these two 
fighters in one of the villages of Chahar Sada districts. “In addition source 
added in his statement: “the group did not allow the family of these fighters 
to carry out the funeral ceremony of these 2 Taliban fighters.” It’s said that 
these 2 Taliban fighters’ dead body was buried without the funeral prayers by 
their families.

(source: pasbanan.com)








PAKISTAN:

Pakistani artists against the death penalty----Justice Peace Project puts 
together an immersive performing arts presentation on World Day against the 
Death Penalty



Bari Studios in Lahore could be called the birthplace of acting in Pakistan but 
never has the now dilapidated building been used for performance art for a 
cause.

On World Day against the Death Penalty – which falls on October 10 – in the 
dimly lit grounds, people wandered around and came alive with 11 compelling 
performances and installations. Each of the artists explored themes of capital 
punishment, ideas of control, detention, confinement and isolation.

Justice Peace Project was behind the project whose key areas of work are 
highlighting human rights violations through public engagement campaigns 
including documentary films, theatre and public art exhibitions. We’ve Been 
Waiting for You was orchestrated by their team in collaboration with Natasha 
Jozi of The House and Ryan Van Winkle of Highlight Arts, who came on board to 
design and curate these performances with the artists.

Last year, Justice Peace Project had Sarmad Khoosat in a ground breaking 
24-hour live stream, No Time to Sleep that portrayed the last 24 hours of a 
death row prisoner’s life. While last year’s performance was a glimpse into one 
person’s last moments, thoughts, actions and behavior, this year’s performance 
had performance art that was more open to interpretation.

When one entered the surreal setting of Bari Studios, there were corners and 
rooms lit up in several different ways for the artists performing inside them. 
The first performance, ‘Bare, Barren, Barbed’ had a girl sit smack in the 
center of a pile of bricks, wrapping and unwrapping loose cloth on her body. It 
was a depiction of how in those final moments, the prisoner keeps themselves 
busy with inconsequential, mundane things because the concept of time is so 
warped for them.

‘Stuck in the Middle’ set out to explore the physical and mental experience of 
violent institutions. The artist stood facing a corner for a while and then 
slowly walked into a small box with bars. He stayed inside it for the length of 
time I was there, looking chillingly stone eyed to the observer. The artist did 
a successful job of portraying how dehumanizing and cruel these institutions 
can be. The cameras and people surrounding him in that moment – the press and 
the media – added another layer of commentary on how a third party is so far 
removed from the experience of such prisoners. ‘The Birth of Debris’ was one of 
the most haunting ones yet with the artist Baqir, washing, cleaning and cutting 
a pile of flesh and bones.

He tried to (successfully) portray how an executioner performs the same task 
every day, to the point that it becomes mechanic and he has no feelings 
associated with his actions. The strong stench of the meat he worked with 
stayed with me as I walked away from his performance. Apparently, he alternated 
between an executioner and a prisoner but as it was an ongoing performance I 
didn’t catch that part of it.

Art is an impactful way to hold a mirror to a society crippled by a flawed 
criminal justice system that has repeatedly allowed people to slip through the 
cracks of Pakistan’s legal landscape. The curated show explored the different 
aspects associated with death row and how fate can be highly unpredictable for 
those in custody.

Justice Peace Project’s efforts, 2 years in a row, should be lauded and we hope 
it adds to the conversation about the scope of the death penalty in Pakistan 
and the human impact of a flawed justice system that occurs in the case of 
wrongful executions.

(source: thenews.com.pk)








THAILAND:

Thailand faces renewed calls to abolish death penalty



A lobby group arguing for the abolishment of the death penalty is urging 
Thailand to agree to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant 
on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), as part of a process that would 
ultimately see an end to capital punishment in the country.

To mark World Day Against the Death Penalty, Gothom Arya, a representative from 
The Network for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, discussed the challenges 
faced by Thailand, where the Buddhist concept of karma underpins a belief that 
if someone carries out a violent act, they too must suffer violence.

“There is a belief that if there’s no death penalty, convicts will return to 
society and harm again. I think the process towards abolishing the death 
penalty in Thailand is likely to be a time-consuming one.”

Bangkok Post reports that Mr Gothom acknowledges the dilemma such ingrained 
beliefs pose but says if Thailand were to at least agree to the Second Optional 
Protocol, it would be a step forward. The protocol allows for a reduction in 
the number of crimes where the death penalty can be handed down.

He says, in the past, Thailand has imposed the death penalty for crimes 
involving drugs, bribery or corruption, which would not be considered serious 
enough crimes.

A survey carried out by Mahidol University reveals that 41% of Thai people are 
in favour of keeping the death penalty, while 51% say they’re undecided. Only 
8% say they would support abolishing it. A Mahidol academic in Criminology, 
Atcharapan Jaraswathana, says there is no evidence that the death penalty is 
effective as a deterrent or a means to reduce crime.

“The death penalty is ultimately a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment 
which provides no quick-fixes to problems the authorities want to confront.”

(source: Bangkok Post








TONGA:

Tonga encouraged to abolish death penalty



“We look forward to the day when the death penalty is removed from Tonga’s 
laws,” said a former Tongan Police officer Siueli ‘Eleni Mone, who was present 
at Tonga's last execution in 1982. On October 10 she joined a discussion with 
the Australian and New Zealand High Commissioners to Tonga who are encouraging 
modern states to abolish the death penalty.

October 10, 2019 is the 17th World Day against the Death Penalty. The 
Australian High Commissioner, HE Mr Adrian Morrison invited guests to his 
residence to talk about abolishing capital punishment.

The 2019 World Day Against the Death Penalty, aims at raising awareness on the 
rights of children whose parents have been sentenced to death or executed.

Over a cup of tea, Mr Morrison, and the New Zealand High Commissioner to Tonga 
HE Ms Tiffany Babington, met with Siueli ‘Eleni Mone, a former Police Officer 
who was on duty when Tonga carried out its latest execution, by hanging in 
1982, and Captain Sila Siufanga of the Salvation Army, who rehabilitates 
deportees in Tonga.

They shared their views of their respective countries, talked about the history 
of the death penalty, and ‘Eleni shared her memory of Tonga’s latest execution 
in 1982.

Mr Morrison said that the last execution in Australia took place in Victoria in 
February 1967. Then all Jurisdictions in Australia abolished the death penalty 
by 1985, and later in 2010 the Federal Government passed a legislation 
prohibiting the reintroduction of death penalty.

Why is Australia against the death penalty?

Mr Morrison believed that the death penalty had no place in the modern world. 
“It is brutal, it is degrading and it is an affront to human dignity...”.

“What I would like you to take away from today is a commitment to work to 
remove the death penalty from Tonga’s statutes...for some of you that might 
seem a bridge too far, but I say to you look into your hearts, look into how 
you think we should behave to each other as human beings, look into what you 
believe is the responsibility of a state to its citizens.

“if you do that, if you examine our self truly, you will see that the death 
penalty has no place in a modern state.”

New Zealand, like Australia, had inherited the death penalty from English law, 
Ms Babington said.

But its abolition was initiated by New Zealand’s first Labour Government, in 
1935, when it commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment.

However, the death penalty was reinstated in the 1950s and New Zealand's last 
execution took place in 1957 before the death penalty was finally abolished in 
1961.

Then the 1989 Death Penalty Abolition Act abolished death penalty for all 
crimes.

Ms Babington expressed a conviction of her government that there was no 
conclusive evidence to support the argument that the death penalty had a 
deterrent effect.

“We reject ‘an eye for an eye’. Justice and compassion are not irreconcilable.

“We look forward to the day when the death penalty is removed from Tonga’s 
laws.”

Siueli ‘Eleni Mone, a former Tonga Police officer said that during the decade 
she was with the Ministry of Police, she worked with the Minister of Police, 
(Hon. ‘Akau’ola) who was also Minister for Prisons, and both the Prisons and 
the Police followed the law and protocol in carrying out the death penalty.

In her role as a police officer, she said that the preparation of equipment for 
the hanging of prisoners in 1982 was a meticulous one, in fact it was a 
preparation for a killing. “The rope the distance of the body falling was 
tested out prior to the event.”

She said that all week prior to the hanging, a Pastor spent time with the 
prisoners and final prayers took place at the scene of the hanging. Present 
during the hanging were a doctor a pastor and selected prisoners and police 
personnel.

'Eleni said that for all these years she had been able to carefully lock the 
event away in “my closed memories.”

“I do not want the traumatising memories I have borne these many past years on 
anyone else. I do not want the agonising effect on the Prison, its staff, their 
families or families of all involved reopening or revisiting the ugly unwanted 
impact or long lasting scars the death penalty brings.

“Let us get the death penalty out of our law books for good.”

Tonga and Papua New Guinea are the only 2 countries in the Pacific Region that 
have not yet formally abolished capital punishment. Papua New Guinea last 
imposed death penalty in 1975 and Tonga in 1982.

The most recent countries in the Pacific to abolish capital punishment are 
Samoa in 2004, Fiji in 2015 and Nauru in 2016.

Worldwide in 2018 the top 10 executioners were China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, 
Vietnam, Iraq, Egypt, USA, Japan, Pakistan and Singapore.

(source: matangitonga.to)








ICELAND:

Icelandic Executions: Punishing The Weak



When looking at the gruesome history of Icelandic executions, one detail stands 
out, and it’s unfortunately one that is echoed in our modern times: those who 
were executed were poor people that didn’t stand a chance. This is one of the 
interesting findings of professor Steinunn Kristjánsdóttir and her team at the 
University of Iceland, as they document all executions in Iceland.

Of course it was the King of Denmark (we only got bad stuff from the Danish 
monarchy) who ushered in capital punishment when he took over the right to 
administer justice from the Catholic Church in 1550. The wave of executions 
that followed saw 248 people put to death in less than three centuries. Though 
some of the executed were violent criminals—including Iceland’s 1 and only 
serial killer—the vast majority were poor, homeless and powerless. Vagrants 
with nothing but the clothes on their back, and women violating morality laws 
account for many of the dead.

It doesn’t matter in what country you live in: your prison system is probably 
filled with a similar demographic: poor people. In a way, we are still 
punishing the poor, in my opinion, and for what? Being born on worse footing? 
Having less privilege?. There are no millionaires on death row in the American 
prison system.

Iceland’s history of capital punishment is something we need to learn from. And 
find ways to improve our society based on our findings. Just as we judge those 
who carried out Iceland’s executions, so too will we be judged by future 
generations.

(source: grapevine.is)








RUSSIA:

Russians voted for capital punishment for pedophiles----Mikhail Tuvatin made 
the Russians remember the capital punishment.



The State Duma poll shows that the majority of citizens spoke out for the death 
penalty for rapists and murderers of minors.

After the arrest of the suspect in the murder of nine-year-old Elizaveta 
Kiseleva, the State Duma published a poll with a proposal to lift the 
moratorium on capital punishment for murderers of children and pedophiles, and 
almost 80% voted for the return of the given penalty. The LDPR leader Vladimir 
Zhirinovsky recalled Alexander Kravchenko, who was executed for the crimes 
committed by Andrey Chikatilo.

At the time of the publication, more than 25,000 people took part in the poll. 
Of these, 77.7% voted for the death penalty – over 19.4 thousand Internet 
users. 18.85% spoke out against lifting the moratorium, 3.45% chose the “other” 
option. At the same time, voting is taking place on the change.org platform, 
which has no relation to the State Duma.

“I believe that the capital punishment for murderers of children is a fair and 
justified measure,” the head of Just Russia, Sergei Mironov, said.

“The whole international experience says that the death penalty is ineffective. 
It is practiced in the USA, in China, in a number of Middle Eastern countries, 
but in the end the crime rates there are much higher than, for example, in 
Europe, where they have not hanged or shot anyone for a long time,” the LDPR 
leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky wrote on his Telegram channel.

The deputy recalled about Kravchenko, who convicted for the murder of a 
9-year-old girl. After his execution, it turned out that during the 
investigation criminals, who forced the arrested to give a confession, had been 
put in his cell. As a result, it turned out that the crime was committed by 
Andrey Chikatilo.

The last death penalty in Russia was carried out in 1996. The murderer of 11 
boys Sergey Golovkin was executed. Then the Russian Federation joined the 
Council of Europe and in 1997 signed the protocol to the Convention for the 
Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Since then, there has not 
been a single death sentence, although it is not prohibited by the Criminal 
Code of the Russian Federation.

It is to be recalled that the public was forced to remember the death penalty 
because of the murder of the nine-year-old Elizaveta Kiseleva, who disappeared 
on October 9. Law enforcement officials detained Mikhail Tuvatin, 35.

According to his testimonies, a few months ago he found a deserted garage and 
settled in it, changing the lock. On October 9, a girl walked past the garage 
and asked if it was Tuvatin’s. The man was frightened of the exposure and 
killed the child. In addition, Tuvatin has an outstanding conviction for rape, 
robbery and violent acts of a sexual nature, Svetlana Petrenko, an official 
spokeswoman for the ICR, said.

(source: crimerussia.com)