Feb. 23
PHILIPPINES:
Palace not keen on lifting moratorium on death penalty
Malacaan said on Wednesday that President Arroyo is not keen on lifting
the moratorium on executions in the country but would not spare kidnappers
and drug traffickers should they be scheduled for lethal injection.
Palace officials defended the Presidents imposed moratorium on executions
which anticrime groups want lifted, as the Chief Executive granted a
90-day reprieve for 14 death convicts scheduled for execution, who were
jailed for rape and not kidnapping or drug trafficking.
"For the moment, the President has not considered lifting the moratorium
on the implementation of the death penalty," said Executive Secretary
Eduardo Ermita.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said in a news conference that the "position
of the President on the capital punishment has basically not changed."
"The President would like of course to impose the penalty especially on
kidnapping cases and drug related cases but on the others, the President
is prepared to be a little more lenient," Bunye said.
(source: ABS-CBNNews)
SRI LANKA:
SC quashes death sentence, Tamil youth released after 15 years
Mr.Shanmugam Ragupathi, a Tamil youth of Jaffna was released Monday after
15 years in Welikada jail when the Supreme Court quashed the death
sentence imposed on him by the Colombo High Court in a case in which he
was indicted by the Attorney General for causing deaths of several
soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in an attack on the Karainagar army
base in the year 1990, legal sources said.
The Attorney General under the Prevention of Terrorism Act indicted the
accused (PTA) in the Colombo High Court in year 2002, legal sources said.
After trial the Colombo High Court imposed death sentence on the accused,
accepting his confession as a voluntary one despite defence position that
the confession was made under duress while in police custody, legal
sources said.
The accused filed an appeal against the death sentence stating that the
High Court had erred in accepting his confession as a voluntary one. He
also said in his appeal that the prosecution had failed to establish the
fact that there was an army camp in Karainagar during the period of
committing the alleged crime, legal sources said.
The prosecution also failed to prove with authoritative documents that
about 500 soldiers were killed in the Karainagar attack, said the Supreme
Court in its order quashing the death sentence, legal sources said.
(source: TamilNet)
