Oct. 7
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO:
DRC: Death Sentence for Former Prosecutor
A former prosecutor of a military court in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC), Col Charles Alamba, was among 11 people condemned to death on
Tuesday after being found guilty of murder, mutilation and extortion.
Various human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have singled
out Alamba for his abuses during his tenure as prosecutor.
As military prosecutor at the time of the assassination of former
president Laurent Kabila, Alamba led the trial in which 30 people accused
of the crime were condemned to death, the same sentence now imposed on
him.
Alamba's downfall occurred in September 2003, following the murder of
Steve Nyembo, a senior official in the Department of Taxation. The killers
ripped out Nyembo's genitals before burning his body.
Police arrested the people who admitted to the killing but said that
Alamba had ordered them to do it.
Alamba was among 22 people charged with murder, mutilation of a dead body,
concealing arms and association with criminals, among other crimes, said
Brig-Gen Camille Nawele Mukongo, who is the president of the military high
court that tried them.
All the 11 people condemned to death had been members of the police or
army. 5 of the accused were sentenced to a 4-year prison term each, while
six others were acquitted.
(source: All Africa News)
INDIA:
Death penalty to man convicted of minor's rape and murder in Ahmedabad
A court in Godhra town today awarded death penalty to a man convicted of
rape and murder of a 6-year old girl.
Fast track court Judge A B Bhatt ordered that the convict Ratansinh alias
Anupsinh Chauhan be hanged till death after he was found guilty of raping
the 6-year old girl and then murdering her on August 16 last year.
The incident occurred in Bhamiyya village of Godhra taluka when Chauhan
had lured the girl into his house and raped her.
He then took her to nearby fields and smashed her head with a stone
killing her on the spot.
Court observed that this was a rarest of rare case and the accused
deserved nothing less than death.
This is the 2nd case where a rape and murder convict has been awarded
capital punishment in Gujarat.
On August 18 this year, a court in Ahmedabad had ordered death penalty to
one Kishen Marwadi for murder and rape of a minor girl.
(source: PTI)
JAPAN:
Lawyers start discussion about death penalty
The Japan Federation of Bar Associations started its annual human rights
meeting in Miyazaki, southwestern Japan, on Thursday, focusing mainly on
the issue of capital punishment.
At a symposium, panelists from South Korea and Taiwan reported their
countries are now seeking to abolish capital punishment, while a European
Commission diplomat harshly criticized the secrecy surrounding the
Japanese death penalty system.
Recognizing that the human rights of death row inmates are not guaranteed
in Japan and that executions are carried out in secret, the federation
will adopt a declaration at the end of the 2-day meeting to urge the
government to suspend executions and disclose more information about them.
It is the 1st time that the lawyers' group has brought up the issue of
capital punishment at its human rights meeting.
Cha Hyung Geun, a lawyer from South Korea, told the symposium that
executions have been suspended for 6 years and nine months there but
violent crimes have not increased.
Hu Ching-shan, assistant professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan, said
the number of executed inmates has been decreasing over the past 5 years
and that senior government officials have clearly said they aim to
terminate capital punishment soon so that their human rights protection
system will meet international standards.
Meanwhile, Michael Reiterer, deputy head of delegation of the European
Commission in Japan, said he expects Tokyo to stop such practices as
executing inmates in a cruel manner -- hanging -- without informing their
lawyers or relatives.
Japan's death penalty system has faced extensive international criticism
because of the harsh treatment of death row inmates. They are detained in
solitary confinement and their contact with the outside world is
restricted. They are only given about one hour's notice of their
execution, so they cannot see relatives beforehand or make final appeals.
Public access, including by lawyers, to execution facilities is denied,
and the government announces only the number of executed inmates, refusing
even to disclose their names.
Under such conditions, the federation proposed in November 2002 that the
government should suspend executions until public debate on capital
punishment reaches a consensus.
The expected declaration will be in line with this proposal, according to
the federation sources.
"We lawyers are still divided over the pros and cons of capital
punishment, but at least we have a consensus that the Japanese death
penalty system has many defects," said Kazuhiro Terai, a lawyer playing a
key role in compiling the declaration draft.
Given the death sentence against AUM Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara over
the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system and other charges, as
well as the speedy execution of Mamoru Takuma for the murder of eight
schoolchildren, "we are in a tough situation this year in discussing
capital punishment," Terai said.
"But we have to be aware now that the world trend is toward abolition of
the death penalty and our system is really problematic," he added.
As of September 2004, 118 countries had abolished capital punishment wile
78 nations including Japan and the United States maintained it, according
to the federation. In Japan, there are currently 62 inmates whose death
sentences have been finalized.
The federation has held a series of nationwide symposiums on capital
punishment during the past half-year in nine cities in order to intensify
public debate.
The symposiums have found there are various views among the public on
capital punishment that defy simple categorization into being for or
against it. Some approve of terminating capital punishment if life
imprisonment without parole is introduced, while others insist a life
sentence is crueler than execution.
Another focus of the human rights meeting is on protecting the human
rights of foreigners living in Japan.
A resolution to be adopted Friday will call for legislation to guarantee
foreigners' voting rights in local elections and their right to ethnic and
mother-tongue education in addition to Japanese-language education.
It will also call for putting foreign workers under the protection of
Japan's labor laws and allowing foreigners to assume public posts.
(source: Kazinform)
