April 25
PHILIPPINES:
2 Sentenced To Death For Peddling Ecstasy
2 women were meted the death penalty by the Mandaluyong City regional
trial court (RTC) for selling ecstasy to agents of the National Bureau of
Investigation (NBI) 3 years ago. Judge Amelia Dy of the Mandaluyong RTC
Branch 213 sentenced Emmalyn de la Serna alias Inday, 30, and Reggie
Medenceles, 31, to die by lethal injection after finding them guilty of
pushing ecstasy tablets.
This was the 1st ever court decision on a case involving the peddling of
ecstasy.
Court records shows that De la Serna and Medenceles were arrested by NBI
agents after a buy-bust operation in Mandaluyong City last Aug. 28, 2002.
The duo yielded 200 pieces of ecstasy tablets.
(source: Hands Off Cain, Italy)
NIGERIA:
COURT SENTENCES 15 TO DEATH BY HANGING FOR MURDERS
The Abakaliki high court in Nigeria=92s southeastern state of Ebonyi
sentenced 15 people to death by hanging on April 20 after convicting them
of killing 3 people over a land dispute.
"After a general review of this case, the evidence of the prosecuting
witnesses and the defence of the accused persons ... I hereby come to the
conclusion that the death of the deceased was caused by the unlawful act
of the accused persons," presiding judge Paul Elechi was quoted as saying.
"The sentence of this court is that you shall be hanged by the neck until
you will be dead," he added.
27 people were prosecuted for the October 13, 1997 murders of 3 people
following a dispute over the ownership of a piece of land in their
community. The court discharged and acquitted 12 of the suspects but
convicted the remaining 15.
Defence counsel Emeka Uwakwe said he would appeal the sentence.
The Nigerian Constitution states at Part II, Chapter IV on Fundamental
Rights, Art.33. (1) that =93Every person has a right to life, and no one
shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the
sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been
found guilty in Nigeria.
The death penalty is provided for by the Criminal Code and legislation on
civil disturbances. Armed robbery, murder, treason, and offences against
the State are capital crimes under national law.
(source: Hands Off Cain, Italy)
CHINA:
WEN SAYS CHINA WORKING HARD TO RATIFY UN RIGHTS CONVENTION
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao insisted his country had made progress on
improving its human rights record and said Beijing was working towards
ratifying a UN convention on the issue.
"We are making efforts to be able to ratify it as soon as possible," Wen
said in a joint press conference with his French counterpart Jean-Pierre
Raffarin.
China signed the UN Convention on Civil and Political Rights in 1998 but
has so far failed to ratify it, despite repeatedly saying it would. "I
spoke with Prime Minister Raffarin about the preliminary work we have
undertaken on this," Wen said, pointing to efforts China was making to
reform the way it hands down the death sentence and its re-education
through labor program.
He said that "even the most critical countries regarding China's human
rights are obliged to recognize that China has made structural progress on
this question".
The number of death sentences passed, as the number of executions carried
out, are classed as state secrets in China, nevertheless one fact emerges
clearly: China is the world=92s top executioner.
Information on the real extent of the judicial massacre that takes place
in China is beginning to filter through sources within the ruling
Communist regime. The number of people put to death in the PRC is much
higher than the highest estimates by western media or abolitionist
organisations.
In 2003, according to a judicial source, 5,000 people were executed in
China. Chen Zhonglin, a member of the People's National Congress
(Parliament) in Beijing, said that China carries out 10,000 executions
every year. His declaration was published on the China Youth Daily in
March 2004. This was the 1st time that a similar declaration was published
by a state-controlled newspaper.
In Disidai, or The Fourth Generation a Communist Party member writing
under the pseudonym Zong Hairen said 15,000 people had been sent to their
death in China between 1998 and 2001. The book was published in 2002. The
number of executions traditionally rises ahead of holidays and this is
popular with the Chinese public.
(source: Hands Off Cain, Italy)
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China gives juries bigger say in reaching verdicts
Juries will help reach verdicts in criminal and civil court cases in
China, state media reported on Monday, as the country seeks to strengthen
its arbitrary legal system.
About 27,000 jurors will begin work next week, but rather than being
selected for each trial, they have been appointed for 5-year terms after
being recommended by local work units.
"This is an important move to upgrade and strengthen the system of
people's jurors," the newspaper quoted Xiao Long of the Beijing No 1
Intermediate People's Court as saying.
"... (It) will add more transparency and justness to the country's
judicial system."
China, home to the world's biggest prison population, has a legal system
the U.S. State Department says is characterised by mistreatment of
prisoners, arbitrary arrest and an "egregious" lack of due process in the
use of the death penalty.
"China included people's jurors into the constitution as early as 1954,
but before this new law there were no rules to stipulate the details of
the jury system," the China Daily said.
Those accused of crimes will now have the right to request jurors be
involved in deciding verdicts on cases with "considerable social
repercussions", the newspaper said without elaborating.
On cases where they can sit, jurors will take 1 or 2 places on a 3-member
bench. Appeals will still be heard solely by judges.
Earlier this month a Chinese man badly beaten and jailed for 11 years for
his wife's murder was freed after she turned up alive.
The case received widespread media attention and prompted a court in the
western province of Sichuan to become the 1st in China to say it would not
recognise evidence obtained through police torture or threats of violence.
(source: Reuters)
