Sept. 15
INDIA:
Soumya murder: SC scraps Govindachamy's death penalty
The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside death sentence given to convict
Govindachamy in Soumya murder case.
The apex court, however, held him guilty of rape.Soumya, an employee of a
shopping mall in Kochi, was raped and pushed out of a running train in February
1, 2011.
Sowmya, who was 23 then, was pushed down from the Ernakulam-Shoranur passenger
train while she was returning from Ernakulam after work to Shoranur and raped
and murdered by Govindachami.
The Thrissur Fast Track Court in November 2011 awarded death penalty to the
accused which was upheld by the Kerala High Court in December 2013.
(source: sify.com)
PHILIPPINES:
CBCP opposes revival of death penalty
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has appealed to
court judges to follow the teaching of the Church and not to impose death
penalty.
"We appeal to our Catholic judges to heed the teaching of the Church and to
appreciate every possible attenuating or mitigating circumstance so as not to
impose the death penalty," said CBCP President Archbishop Socrates Villegas in
a statement entitled CBCP Ethical Guidelines on Proposals to Restore the Death
Penalty.
Likewise, the Lingayen-Dagupan prelate urged them not to support the
reimposition of capital punishment.
"We call on our Catholic jurists to study the issue and to oppose, through
proper judicial proceedings, the re-introduction of capital punishment," he
said.
Villegas added, "It is time then to rid ourselves of the obsolescent notion
that a person who commits a heinous wrong "forfeits his right to life". No one
can forfeit the right to life, because life is at the free disposal of none,
not even of the State!"
The CBCP head also asked legislators not to vote for restoration of the the
death penalty.
"We ask Catholic law-makers to withhold support from any attempt to restore the
death penalty," he said.
Villegas pointed out that the country has a legal obligation not to restore the
capital punishment.
"This is an obligation in law that it took upon itself when our government
ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights. Significantly, Article I of the Protocol cannot be clearer about our
legal obligations:1. No one within the jurisdiction of a State Party to the
present Protocol shall be executed. 2. Each State Party shall take all
necessary measures to abolish the death penalty within its jurisdiction," he
said.
The Catholic bishop added, "And there is nothing in the Protocol that would
allow the Philippines to denounce the international agreement. In fact, it
would not be in our best interests to do so, in light of the fact that in
respect to other aspects of our national life, we take refuge and seek legal
relief under the norms of international law and international agreements."
He also cited the existence of a law that was passed 10 years ago that repealed
the imposition of death penalty.
"Our position against the death penalty therefore rests not only on
considerations of human dignity but has legal foundation. In the country's
legislature R.A. 9346, the act repealing the death penalty and granting
universal commutation to life imprisonment and reclusion-perpetua (June 24,
2006)," the Lingayen-Dagupan prelate added.
(source: mb.com.ph)
INDONESIA:
We have permission to execute Philippine prisoner
"He simply said: 'Follow your own laws, I will not interfere'".
"You know this is in Bahasa and it might have been lost in the translation",
Yasay said. Before leaving for a regional summit in Laos on September 5,
Duterte said he "might just accept the system and plead for mercy".
And so during their meeting during Duterte's working visit in Indonesia last
week, it was a focal point of discussion. Duterte's officials have denied the
report which quoted the state-run Antara News Agency which quoted Widodo.
On Tuesday, Sept. 13, the president said that asking for clemency would be
hypocritical because his administration has been fighting the issue of drugs.
Duterte - who is waging a bloody crackdown on drugs in his country that has
claimed almost 3000 lives in just two months - apparently gave Widodo the green
light during a bilateral meeting last week in Jakarta.
In a related development, two of Veloso's supposed recruiters have assailed the
decision of a Nueva Ecija court to get her deposition in Indonesia.
In 2010, she was arrested in Jogyakarta airport for trying to bring in 5.7
kilograms of heroin, and was given the death sentence later in October.
Veloso says she was duped into smuggling the drugs into Indonesia. "We never
mentioned about Veloso".
But Agence France-Presse reported that in Jakarta, Mr Joko told reporters
yesterday what Mr Duterte had told him. "This is assuming already that Veloso
would have testified", Abella said. I said go ahead and implement the law - I
never. Sinabi ko lang, we will respect the judgments of your courts. Widodo
declared a "drug emergency" past year, on the grounds that such use reportedly
kills around 40-50 people in the country daily.
"I see that President Duterte's consistency in eradicating drugs is really
high".
Olalia conceded that Veloso's conviction, temporary reprieve and the appeal for
clemency were "matters all within the ambit of Indonesian laws in the same way
that the ongoing trial of cases against her recruiters and the plea for
clemency are also matters in accordance with the Philippine laws".
"Up 'til now we have not received any word of the latest developments, but as I
said, we still await the legal process in the Philippines".
Leftist students trooped to the Mendiola Peace Arch on Tuesday to urge
President Duterte to save Veloso from execution in Indonesia.
Duterte declined to discuss specifics of the conversation involving Veloso's
case. Indonesia tells us that our President gave the green light for Mary
Jane's execution but our Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) tells otherwise.
The stay of execution was the result of a request by the then Philippines
president, Benigno Aquino.
Social media posts from Filipinos even seemed to turn the tables on Veloso,
saying that, as a drug mule, she deserved her imprisonment and imminent
execution.
Senator Leila de Lima, a critic of Duterte, described as "disgusting" the
President's statement to Widodo regarding Veloso's execution.
Before he left for the Asean summit in Laos last week, Mr Duterte told
reporters he would try to intercede on behalf of Veloso with Mr Joko "in a most
respectful and in a very, very courteous way".
Her case attracted huge attention in the Philippines and Indonesia, with
rallies of support and world boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao pleading for her
life to be spared.
Escudero said Duterte, who has been pushing for the death penalty, has no moral
ground to appeal the death penalty imposed on Veloso.
(source: crcconnection.com)
JAPAN:
Death penalty upheld over two murders in Osaka in 2011
The Osaka High Court upheld the death penalty Wednesday for a man convicted of
murdering a former corporate executive and a housewife in separate cases in
western Japan in late 2011.
The court dismissed an appeal against capital punishment by Munehiro
Nishiguchi, 55, whose defense counsel had said he could have been suffering
diminished capacity, citing cerebral atrophy the counsel said was recognized in
an imaging scan.
The high court said the man was not suffering from an impairment that could
have affected his actions.
The defense appealed the high court decision.
According to the high court ruling, Nishiguchi killed Takeko Tamura, a
67-year-old housewife, in November 2011 at a parking lot of a shopping mall in
Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, and then stole her money.
In the following month, he choked to death Soshu Ozaki, an 84-year-old former
vice president of cooking device maker Zojirushi Corp, at the victim's home in
the same city and stole about 800,000 yen.
(source: Japan Today)
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