[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 18


POLAND:

EU anti-death penalty day vetoed ---- Lech Kaczynski advocates traditional
Catholic values


Poland has blocked plans to hold a European day against the death penalty,
the EU's Portuguese presidency says.

It says Warsaw rejected the idea at a meeting of ministers in Brussels,
arguing that any such event should also condemn abortion and euthanasia.

The EU, where the capital punishment is outlawed, had planned to mark the
anti-death penalty day on 10 October.

Poland's conservative government has in the past called for a re-opening
of the debate on capital punishment.

The European Commission said a conference scheduled to launch the EU day
against the death penalty would still go ahead on 9 October.

But with Poland digging in its heels, delegates may find the debate is
livelier than they had expected, the BBC's Alix Kroeger in Brussels says.

'Broader approach'

"Unfortunately, it was not possible to find a consensus among all the 27
[EU] member states," Portuguese Justice Minister Alberto Costa told
reporters after the Brussels meeting of EU justice and interior ministers.

"They [the Poles] accuse the EU of promoting "abortion, destructive
lifestyles and euthanasia"----Mark Mardell, BBC Europe editor

Mardell's Euroblog

EU officials also confirmed that Warsaw alone objected to the move.

Polish Deputy Justice Minister Andrzej Duda said that the EU "should
approach the subject in a broader way and debate the protection of life".

"The death penalty is only one element of the debate; there are more - for
example, abortion and euthanasia," he said.

This is the latest in a series of political clashes between Brussels and
Warsaw, on everything from homosexuality to environmental protection, our
correspondent says.

She says that Poland's junior coalition partner, the ultra-conservative
League of Polish Families, wants to bring back the death penalty for
paedophiles.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski last year called on EU member states to
reintroduce the death penalty.

Poland, along with Ireland and Malta, are the only members where abortion
is illegal.

Poland's Roman Catholic clergy and politicians have described the practice
of euthanasia in countries such as the Netherlands as a "culture of
death".

The latest row comes as Poland prepares for early general elections on 21
October.

(source: BBC News)






JAPAN:

Death penalty sought for murder of 5-yr-olds


Prosecutors on Tuesday demanded the death penalty for a 35-year-old woman
accused of killing two kindergartners in Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture, in
February 2006, in her trial at the Otsu District Court.

According to the indictment, the defendant, Zheng Yongshan, fatally
stabbed Wakana Taketomo and Jin Sano, both then 5, on Feb. 17, 2006, in
her car. She had been taking the girl and boy and her daughter to Kamiteru
Kindergarten in the city.

The prosecutors said Zheng's crime was extremely cruel and malicious, and
the bereaved families wanted her to be severely punished. They also said
Zheng might reoffend as she had shown no remorse.

Zheng's lawyer said she might have been temporarily insane at the time of
the crime, and asked the court to find her not guilty or give her a
reduced sentence.

(source: Yomiuri Shimbun)