June 12
INDIA:
German Bakery blast: State to file appeal in Supreme Court against Baig's
acquittal
The state government is all set to file an appeal in the Supreme Court against
Bombay High Court's order acquitting the lone convict Mirza Himayat Baig in the
2010 German Bakery blast case in Pune.
Baig was handed over death penalty by a special court for his involvement in
the alleged terrorist act. The Bombay High Court had, however, found him guilty
of the charge of possession of explosives and confirmed life imprisonment under
sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Indian Penal Code and
Explosive Substances Act but not for terror charges.
A highly placed source told dna "the draft of appeal is in the process and it
will be filed once the apex court is re-opened after the summer vacation on
June 29. Despite the testimonies of witnesses against Baig, the court had
wrongly ignored them and granted relief to the accused."
Baig is currently in Arthur Road Central Jail, where he is currently lodged
after his acquittal from terror charges.
As many as 17 people died and over 50 were injured in the blast. In April 2013,
when he was being awarded the death sentence, Baig had wept in court, pleading
innocence and saying he was "the 18th victim of the blast". The Maharashtra ATS
had claimed he was the blast "mastermind".
The charge of IPC section 474 (possession of document, knowing it to be forged
and intending to use it as genuine) was also confirmed - the maximum punishment
of 7 years will run concurrently.
The prosecution had claimed recovery of RDX from the blast site, matching with
traces found in Baig's house.
(source: dnaindia.com)
*******************
Pollachi double murderer's death sentence reduced to life in prison
An order of a trial court in Coimbatore, awarding death sentence to a man, who
committed multiple murders in connection with a land dispute, was commuted to
life term by the Madras High Court. Hence, the referred trial and the appeal.
"We find that this case does not fall within the category of the rarest of rare
cases. Therefore, we find it difficult to confirm the death sentence. We are
inclined to impose life sentence, however, with a direction that the accused
shall not be entitled to any remission for 20 years," a division bench of
Justices S Nagamuthu and V Bharathidasan has said. The judge was disposing of a
referred trial from the IV Additional District and Sessions Judge in Coimbatore
and partly allowing a criminal appeal from the accused Rajiv Gandhi alias
Marimuthu, challenging the conviction and sentence to death. According to
prosecution, Rajiv Gandhi, a resident of Sungam village in Pollachi taluk,
murdered two women - Palani Ammal and Jothimani - in connection with a land
dispute in February, 2012. And the trial court in Coimbatore found him guilty,
among other things, for offences under Sec.
302 of the IPC (murder) on several counts and holding that it was a rarest of
rare cases, awarded death sentence to him. Hence, the referred trial and the
appeal. With regard to the totality of all circumstances, both the aggravating
as well as the mitigating circumstances, by balancing these 2 and also applying
several judgments of the Supreme Court, the judges said that imprisonment for
life would be the adequate punishment. "Thus we find it difficult to confirm
the death penalty imposed by the trial court," the division bench of Justices S
Nagamuthu and V Bharathidasan said.
(source: nyoooz.com)
PHILIPPINES:
Palace on death penalty: People should be heard
Malacanang on Sunday said that the Filipino people's voice should be considered
by the incoming administration as President-elect Rodrigo Duterte calls for the
return of the death penalty.
Asked to weigh in on Justice Secretary Emmanuel Caparas' statement that the
United Nations (UN) may sanction the country if it restores the death penalty,
Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said, "The Secretary of Justice is
affirming that the country has existing commitments to the United Nations and
that reinstituting the death penalty is a vital policy change that needs to be
thoroughly studied by the incoming administration and the 17th Congress."
"The people's voice needs to be heard, too, to ascertain whether indeed the
majority would like to see this come to pass," he added.
The death penalty was abolished in 2006 by former President and now Pampanga
Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who claimed that there was no proof
that it deterred crime.
But Duterte, to bolster his promise to end criminality within six months, said
he wants death penalty reintroduced and perpetrators of heinous crimes executed
by hanging.
Groups opposing the move claim that the death penalty will make only make poor
people, who do not have money for proper legal assistance, vulnerable.
(source: inquirer.net)
*************
PH faces UN sanction over death penalty
The United Nations (UN) may sanction the Philippines if it re-imposes the death
penalty, Justice Secretary Emmanuel Caparas said.
The incumbent Justice secretary issued the warning in the wake of incoming
President Rodrigo R. Duterte???s pronouncements that he will push for the
revival of the death penalty as part of his campaign promise to end illegal
drugs, criminality, and corruption within six month of his term.
Caparas advised Duterte to conduct a thorough study of the matter.
"We do have international obligations, we do have commitments. And these
obligations and commitments have to be reviewed as well because that will have
an impact on us," he told reporters in a recent press conference.
Just recently, human rights lawyer and Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG)
chairman Jose Manuel Diokno reminded the incoming administration that the
Philippines is bound by the Second Optional Protocol to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which was signed by the government on
September 20, 2006 and ratified on November 20, 2007.
Under Article 1 of the Protocol, "No one within the jurisdiction of a State
Party to the present Protocol shall be executed." It also states that, "Each
State Party shall take all necessary measures to abolish the death penalty
within its jurisdiction."
Caparas warned that if the country fails to uphold its end in the agreement,
sanctions from the international community "could be in the form of aid, this
could be in the form of international cooperation and others."
"This is not a simple matter, it has to be studied," Caparas stressed.
"There are experts around who will be able to weigh in on that and provide
appropriate advice to the (incoming) president and his Cabinet," he added.
(source: Manila Bulletin)
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