[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 27



ECUADOR:

Ecuador calls for suspension of Ecuadorian's death sentence in U.S.


Ecuador on Tuesday condemned the death sentence handed down to Ecuadorian
citizen Nelson Ivan Serrano Saenz in the United States for the murder of 4
people.

"As a nation Ecuador condemns the death penalty. Serrano should be
pardoned," Ecuador's Interior Minister Gustavo Larrea told the press.

A Florida court has found Serrano guilty of murdering 4 people -- George
Gonsalves, 69; Frank Dosso, 35; Diane Patisso, 28, and George Patisso Jr.,
26 -- all on Dec. 3, 1997.

Serrano, who has U.S.-Ecuadorian dual nationality, was arrested in August
2002 in Quito and deported to the United States, based on a U.S. warrant
for multiple murder. Ecuador's Foreign Ministry and Ombudsman said this
deportation was illegal, because Serrano now faces a penalty that is
illegal in Ecuador.

Serrano, Gonsalves and the father of Dosso were partners in a factory that
made clothing transporting equipment for laundries. Gonsalves and Dosso
fired Serrano, who had been company president, in 1997, accusing him of
stealing money.

Serrano has always denied having any part in the murders, saying that he
was in Polk County, a district in the distant U.S. city of Atlanta, at the
time.

(source: Xinhua)






AZERBAIJAN:

PACE's Reporter Calls on Azerbaijan to Sign Document on Death Penalty


The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) called Russia
to sign all the corresponding documents on removing the death penalty, as
was stated in the report of Pietro Marcenaro, the Italian Parliamentarian,
on the removal of the death penalty on an international scale.

"The corresponding documents, adopted during the Soviet Union were not
recognized by all countries. The 6th Protocol of the European Convention
on Human Rights was not ratified by Russia, in spite of at the joining the
Council of Europe, Russia received its corresponding duties," Marcenaro
stressed.

"The 13th Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights demands
removal of the death penalty during any time, including during war and a
war-danger period. This document has not yet been signed by Azerbaijan and
Russia. Armenia, Spain, Italy, Poland, France, and Latvia have not
ratified the document yet," Marcenaro stressed in the statement.

The Assembly calls to sign and ratify these documents before making
decisions by the aforesaid countries.

At the beginning of 2007, the UN offered to give international status to
the removal of the death penalty. PACE supports this initiative and
intends to back the efforts of the Council of Europe.

The number of prisoners sentenced to the death penalty in the world
decreased. From 1997 to 2006, 89 countries removed the death penalty.

(source: Trend News Agency)




KYRGYZSTAN:

Kyrgyzstan's President Signs Bill Abolishing Death Penalty


Kyrgyzstan's president signed into law legislation abolishing the death
penalty in the poor Central Asian nation, the presidential press service
said Wednesday.

The legislation, signed into law by Kurmanbek Bakiyev, replaces the death
penalty with life sentences, the press service said.

The bill also introduces other changes to criminal codes and procedures
such as requiring arrest warrants to be issued by courts instead of
prosecutors and reducing prison terms for some crimes.

According to the human rights organization Kylym Shamy, the new
legislation immediately affects 174 convicts now on death row in the
ex-Soviet republic.

Kyrgyzstan first introduced a moratorium on the death penalty in 1998, and
repeatedly extended it. In 2005, Bakiyev effectively ended the use of the
death penalty when he extended the moratorium until its planned abolition.

(source: Associated Press)

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

President Bakiyev abolishes death penalty in Kirghizia


Kirghiz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has signed a bill that amends and
supplements a number of laws and aims to humanize Kirghiz criminal law,
the presidential press service told Interfax on Wednesday.

"The law is aimed at humanizing criminal law, specifically by canceling
the death penalty and replacing it with a life sentence, introducing new
types of punishment other than imprisonment, and reducing sentences," the
press service said.

The law "provides for bringing the criminal and procedural laws of the
country into compliance with the new edition of the constitution, in
particular its parts dealing with the observance of human rights in the
administration of justice, and the transfer of prosecutors' power to
initiate proceedings to courts," the press service said.

(source: Interfax)