[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 19


MEXICO:

Mexico asks World Court to halt U.S. executions


Mexico asked the World Court on Thursday to take urgent steps to stop
imminent U.S. executions of 5 Mexicans on death row who were denied their
rights to consular assistance. 1 of the 5, Jose Medellin, is due to die on
August 5 in Texas, which is poised to set execution dates for the others.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ruled in 2004 that
the United States had violated international law by failing to inform 51
Mexicans now on death row of their right to consular assistance and said
the cases should be reviewed.

Mexican representative Juan Manuel Gomez-Robledo said the United States
was in breach of its international obligations, and asked the U.N.'s
highest court to seek stays of the five imminent executions.

"5 Mexican nationals ... could be executed without their convictions and
sentences being given the review and reconsideration that is their right,"
he said.

The issue has soured relations between the United States and its southern
neighbor Mexico, which opposes the U.S. death penalty. The United States
will put its case later on Thursday.

"The situation is indisputably urgent," said Donald Donovan, a lawyer for
Mexico. "It is impossible to identify an act more irreparable than the
execution of a human being."

In 2005, President George W. Bush, a staunch defender of the death
penalty, directed state courts to review the 51 cases following the World
Court's ruling, saying the United States must adhere to its international
treaty obligations.

But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in March that Bush overstepped his
authority when he directed Texas to comply with the ICJ's ruling and
reopen the case against Medellin.

RULE OF LAW

A gang member, Medellin was denied the right to meet with a consular
official from Mexico after his arrest for the June 1993 rape and murder of
two teenage girls in Houston. The killings were linked to a gang
initiation.

Under the Vienna Convention, foreign nationals have a right to talk to
consular officers after their arrests.

Texas has acknowledged Medellin was never told he could talk to Mexican
officials. But it has argued that claim cannot be made now because he
never raised it at trial or sentencing.

Even if his treaty rights had been violated, it would not have made any
difference in the outcome of the case, Texas said.

The ICJ, also known as the World Court, is responsible for handling
disputes between U.N. member states. Its rulings -- which often take years
-- are binding and not subject to appeal.

Sandra Babcock from the Center for International Human Rights at Chicago
University said the Mexicans only had a 1 % chance of clemency, noting
Texas had commuted just two of its more than 400 death sentences in the
last few decades.

The Mexicans are on death row in several other states as well as Texas,
including California and Oklahoma.

Gomez-Robledo, Mexican under-secretary for multilateral affairs and human
rights, called Bush's efforts to get the cases reviewed "praiseworthy" and
said U.S. authorities were doing more to respect the rights of arrested
foreign nationals.

But he appealed to the United States to respect international law. "The
rule of law is the foundation stone on which the United States was built,"
he said.

(source: Reuters)






CZECH REPUBLIC:

More Czechs Favour Death Penalty


The number of people who support the death penalty has increased in the
Czech Republic, according to a poll by CVVM. 62 per cent of respondents
think the practice should be allowed in the country, up 4 points since
June 2007.

More than 1,200 people were executed between 1945 and 1990 in
Czechoslovakia. The death penalty was officially eradicated in May 1990.
When the Czech Republic was instituted in 1993, the abolition of the
capital punishment was enshrined in the new constitution.

The countrys civil law system is derived from Austro-Hungarian codes,
while its criminal law has been revised to conform to Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) standards. The Czech Republic
joined the European Union (EU) in May 2004.

On Jun. 16, European foreign ministers signed a joint statement calling
for the global abolition of the death penalty, saying, "The Council [of
ministers] recalls the opposition of the European Union to the death
penalty in all cases and in all circumstances. The abolition of the death
penalty contributes to the enhancement of human dignity and the
progressive development of human rights."

Polling Data

Do you think the death penalty should be allowed in the Czech Republic?

Jun. 2008 -------------Jun. 2007

Yes 62% --------------------58%

No 32% ----------------------28%

Not sure 6% ---------------14%

[source: CVVM

Methodology: Interviews with 1,066 Czech adults, conducted from May 12 to
May 19, 2008. No margin of error was provided.]

(source: Angus Reid Global Monitoring)






ZIMBABWE:

Zimbabwe opposition figure facing death penalty: court papers


Zimbabwe authorities have filed court papers accusing opposition number
two Tendai Biti of subverting the government, adding that he faces the
death penalty, an AFP journalist saw Thursday.

A police charge sheet filed in court accuses Biti of "subverting a
constitutional government as defined in the criminal law."

The accusations including seeking "to render the country ungouvernable
including the possibility of resorting to an armed insurrection."

The court file also shows prosecutors opposing bail for Biti since "the
accused is facing serious offences which attract capital punishment."

Biti, who has not been officially charged, was arrested Thursday minutes
after arriving back in Zimbabwe following a long stay in South Africa and
has been held in prison since then.

Police have said they plan to charge him with treason, and his arrest
comes just ahead of a June 27 presidential run-off election.

He appeared in court for about 40 minutes on Thursday before the case was
delayed for lawyers on both sides to hold discussions.

The court papers list four separate charges, though they do not refer
specifically to treason.

Police accuse him in the charge sheet of having "incited and conspired ...
to rig" the March 29 first round of the election and of having offered
bribes ranging from three billion to 50 billion Zimbabwean dollars.

Soaring inflation in Zimbabwe makes it impossible to estimate how much the
currency is now worth, but the official inflation is put at 165,000 %.

The bribery led to "massive election rigging," it says.

Other charges accuse him of "publishing or communicating false statements
prejudicial to the state" and "causing disaffection among defence forces."

According to police, he is also accused of "undermining authority or
insulting the president" and "projecting the president as an evil man" who
should be tried for crimes against humanity.

(source: Agence France Presse)