[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 19



PERU:

Thousands march in Peru for death penalty plan


Carrying portraits of relatives killed by Maoist rebels years ago,
thousands of Peruvians marched in the capital Lima on Friday to support
the death penalty.

Public demonstrations are normally banned downtown, but President Alan
Garcia, who proposed the death penalty, received representatives of the
marchers and then spoke to the crowd of some 3,000 from the staircase of
his palace, a portrait of a victim pinned to his suit.

"The people do not want vengeance, the people want justice," Garcia said.
"I cannot silence the clamor of the people of Peru. I promised to
introduce capital punishment ... during my election campaign and I want to
be honest and loyal with the people."

The crowd chanted "death penalty" and "justice."

Garcia's death penalty proposals for people convicted of terrorism and
child rape were part of campaign pledges that won him last year's election
in the Andean country. The proposals are for future convictions and are
not retroactive.

But Garcia ran into resistance in Congress, which this month voted down
his measure to impose the death penalty. Last week, he proposed changing
the constitution to allow a referendum on the issue.

He said on Friday that 85 percent of Peruvian households supported the
death penalty for those convicted of terrorism terrorists and child rape.

Capital punishment for terror offenses is permitted under Peru's 1993
constitution. But the penal code does not allow it under any circumstance.

Critics have called Garcia's death penalty crusade "populist",
"autocratic" and harmful to Peru's international image.

Cesar Landa, president of the constitutional tribunal has said the
initiative was probably unconstitutional, "regardless of how popular it
may be." His court will have the final say on the issue after a
referendum.

Many people in Peru still have painful memories of deadly bombings and
raids by Maoist rebels between 1980 and 1998. Some 69,000 Peruvians from
across the political spectrum were killed or vanished during those years.
Several thousand leftist rebels have been sentenced to long prison terms
for terrorism.

Congress argued that approving capital punishment would breach the
American Convention on Human Rights, which Peru has signed. It says the
signatories cannot restore the death penalty or apply it more widely.

(source: Reuters)






SOUTH AFRICA:

Death row inmates given 2nd chance

8 prisoners who have been behind bars for 20 years - some of whom spent
time on death row in the 1980s - are going to be freed later in January.

Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour confirmed on Thursday that
the 8 former death row and life sentence prisoners would be released on
parole and correctional supervision placement as they have served the
minimum of 20 years. However, he declined to release their names.

3 prisoners were from Thohoyandou in Limpopo, 2 from Mthatha in the
Eastern Cape, two from Witbank and Middelburg in Mpumalanga, and one from
Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal.

He did not have the information at hand as to how many of the 8 had had
their death sentences commuted to life in jail after the death penalty was
abolished in the late 1980s.

Balfour said the prisoners were now undergoing a 1-month pre-release
programme aimed at orientating them to life outside. "This is a programme
aimed at integrating them to real social life.

"Once on parole with their families, they would get the shock of their
lives as the world has changed. Some have never seen nor touched
cellphones."

"The pre-release program-me includes anger management, behaviour and
discipline. These are very important for them as prison life might have
hugely affected their lives and way of thinking.

"Officials are now orientating them to know they will be in a world where
there will be no bells calling them to four o'clock suppers, no orange
uniforms and other prison stuff."

Balfour urged communities not to vent their anger on prisoners who had
been released on parole as they were undergoing a very important social
integration process.

"They have gone through the justice programme, served their time in jail
and now it's their second chance for them lead a full and normal life."

Balfour recently had to address a crowd at a Hermanus township who refused
to let 2 parolees return home.

"I was very happy when the people and the parolees ex-pressed themselves
publicly. We left the place happy at seeing both parties having forgiven
each other.

"I understand the reasons to be angry towards parolees, hence I beg people
to be calm and accept them again .

"Please give them a 2nd chance," Balfour said.

(source: The Independent)






RWANDA:

Rwanda 'to scrap death penalty' ---- Many of those responsible for the
genocide have yet to face justice


Rwanda's cabinet has voted to scrap the death penalty, Justice Minister
Tharcisse Karugarama says. He said if the legislation is approved by
parliament, those on death-row would instead serve life in prison.

The change would enable countries which arrest genocide suspects but which
object to capital punishment to extradite them to Rwanda.

Some 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates were slaughtered during the
country's 100-day genocide in 1994.

Most of the high-profile genocide cases have been tried at the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Tanzania.

Since 1997 the tribunal has convicted 29 ringleaders of the genocide and
acquitted five people, according to its website.

Frustrated at its slow process, Rwanda wants suspects transferred to face
trail at home.

Some genocide survivors have objected to dropping capital punishment
saying it acts as a strong deterrent.

The BBC's Geoffrey Mutagoma in the capital, Kigali, says that over the
last couple of months the justice ministry has been holding public
consultations around the country about dropping the death penalty.

"The consultations that we have held since October showed us that Rwandans
favour the abolition of the punishment," Mr Karugarama told AFP news
agency.

"I cannot decide for parliament, but given the support for the abolition,
I hope that they will vote for the law," he said.

(source: BBC News)