[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 3


KYRGYZSTAN:

Kyrgyz court sentences MP's killers to death


A court in Kyrgyzstan on Thursday sentenced to death 3 men charged with
killing a member of the Central Asian state's parliament.

The penalty will not be implemented because Kyrgyzstan has a moratorium on
executions. Instead, the men -- Yevgeny Golovin, Azamat Zakirov and Rustam
Abdulin -- will be jailed on death row.

Parliament member Tynychbek Akmatbayev was killed in October 2005 when
inmates at a tuberculosis hospital inside a prison took him and his
entourage hostage.

The murder highlighted the impoverished country's volatility after violent
protests toppled veteran leader Askar Akayev earlier that year.

The court also sentenced 35 people to jail terms in connection with the
killing. One man got a suspended sentence.

Despite the moratorium on executions, introduced in 1998, Kyrgyz courts
continue to hand down death sentences, leaving many people with indefinite
stretches on death row in Soviet-era prisons where disease and drug abuse
are rife.

In July, 2 men charged with killing another member of parliament, Bayaman
Erkinbayev, were also sentenced to death.

(source: Reuters)






EUROPEAN UNION/POLAND:

Poland death penalty plan condemned


Europe's main human rights watchdog told Polish President Lech Kaczynski
on Thursday his support for restoring the death penalty was an attack on
European values and would breach Poland's treaty obligations.

"In our view, the death penalty has no place in the criminal justice
system of any modern, civilised country," Rene van der Linden, President
of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, said in an open
letter to Kaczynski.

"To suggest that its reintroduction could in any sense represent a
positive development would be a direct attack on our common values, which
are founded on respect for the basic human dignity of every person", he
said.

The letter followed comments from the conservative Kaczynski on Polish
radio last week, expressing support for the death penalty in cases of
murder.

The comments were the latest example of traditionalist and hardline
rhetoric from Poland's leaders that has alarmed its partners and sparked
fears the country could drift away from the European mainstream.

On Wednesday, the European Commission rejected Kaczynski's views as
incompatible with European values.

Van der Linden said restoration of the death penalty, which was abolished
in Poland soon after the fall of communism in 1989, "would constitute a
flagrant breach of a country's obligations under the European Convention
on Human Rights".

"Its reintroduction would thus be completely incompatible with membership
of our organisation."

Kaczynski, whose twin brother Jaroslaw is prime minister, has taken no
formal steps to reintroduce the death penalty but junior coalition
partner, the nationalist League of Polish Families, has said it will push
for a referendum on the issue.

Van der Linden said the abolition of the death penalty in Europe had been
one of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe's greatest achievements and
was one of its central policies.

He said the Parliamentary Assembly, made up of deputies from across
Europe, would continue to follow developments closely.

"In the light of these concerns, I hope that you will now see fit to
reconsider your position and to retract your proposal," he said.

(source: Reuters)






MALAYSIA:

Death penalty for immigration offenders?


The discussion on human rights and citizenship organised by Human Rights
Commission of Malaysia heard a call for the death penalty to be given to
those selling identity cards to illegal immigrants.

The participants also want the government to establish the Royal
Commission of Enquiry.

The 50-odd participants also proposed to the government to appoint a
Sabahan to head the National Registration (NRD) here for better
coordination and transparency and suggesting that heavier penalties be
imposed on people found furnishing false information in their identity
cards.

(source: Borneo Bulletin)