[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 13



CONGO:

Prosecutor Calls for Death Sentence Against Alleged Assassins of
Journalist Franck Ngyke


During the 4 April 2007 public hearing of the Kinshasa/Matete Military
Court, the prosecution requested death sentences for the alleged assassins
of journalist Franck Ngyke and his wife Hlne Mpaka, assassinated in their
home on the night of 2-3 November 2005.

For the prosecution, the call for the death penalty, which excluded many
mitigating circumstances, is justified because the journalist's
assassination had been planned days earlier by the accused, for whom this
heinous crime was not their first.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs condemned the superficiality with which this
case was investigated both by the police and by the military prosecutor's
office, as well as the court's refusal to reply to their numerous requests
for certain people to appear in a public hearing. "The trial is ending
while the motives for the crime and many other things are still unknown",
they declared.

The plaintiffs have also denounced the Congolese government's sabotage of
the trial, even though it was a party to it, by not having done enough so
that the truth could be known.

Defence lawyers called for the accused to be released based on the benefit
of the doubt. The defence argued that the prosecution has never been able,
throughout the trial, to prove that the accused are guilty. In addition,
the trial revealed another band of alleged assassins, arrested by the
police and then released, but whose confession resembled the orphaned
children's version of the events. "In such a case, doubt should benefit
the accused," they said.

The main suspect, Joel Muganda, asked the court that he be prosecuted only
for the telephone call he made from the journalist's phone, and that the
other accused be released because they were innocent.

Five people have been prosecuted in this case for associating with
criminals, murder, attempted murder, violation of instructions, extortion,
theft of weapons, and receiving and concealing of objects. They include
Second Lieutenant Joel Muganda, the alleged band leader, Second Lieutenant
Didier Awantimbine, Warrant Officer Papy Munongo, Paulin Kusungila and
Serge Kabungu Obez.

The Military Court is now deliberating on the case and will render a
verdict on 13 April 2007.

(source: AllAfrica.com)






CANADA:

JUSTICE: CHARTER OF RIGHTS ANNIVERSARY---- Ruling ensures death penalty
won't return, conference told


The greatest achievement of the Charter of Rights may be that it has ended
any consideration of ever bringing back the death penalty, an Ontario
Court of Appeal judge said yesterday.

Speaking at a conference to mark the Charter's 25th anniversary, Mr.
Justice Marc Rosenberg said that a 2001 Supreme Court of Canada decision,
Regina v. Burns and Rafay, did more than just prevent the two Canadian
defendants from being extradited to the United States. (Atif Rafay and
Sebastian Burns were Vancouver men who fled murder charges in Washington
State; the Supreme Court said they could not be returned to the United
States without guarantees that they would not be executed.)

"Burns and Rafay made it clear that we can never have the death penalty
back in this country," said Judge Rosenberg, one of the country's foremost
experts on the criminal process. "It is because of the Charter that the
criminal justice system is out from under the shadow of capital
punishment."

However, Judge Rosenberg said that justice must now come to grips with
another, grave problem -- the plight of accused people who are unable to
obtain a lawyer to defend them. "The problem of unrepresented accused is a
serious one," he told the conference. "Why do we not accept that the cost
of due process is some form of legal representation for the accused?"

Judge Rosenberg also credited the Charter with revolutionizing the
obligation of police and prosecutors to hand over relevant evidence to the
defence in criminal cases.

"I believe that the essential measure of the credibility and integrity of
criminal justice is that we do not convict the innocent," he said. "It is
hard to imagine now, but the way it used to be was that disclosure to the
defence was at the whim of the Crown -- and I mean, whim."

Speakers at yesterday's conference included Jean Chrtien and former
Supreme Court of Canada Judge Frank Iacobucci.

(source: Globe and Mail)