[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Nov. 21 BELARUSnew death sentence Belarusian Man Sentenced To Death On Murder Charges Belarusian court has sentenced a man to death for 2 fatal robberies, the 2nd death sentence this year to be handed down in the only country in Europe that still uses it. Judges in the court in the western city of Hrodno found Ivan Kulish guilty on November 20 of killing 3 saleswomen during 2 robberies in 2013 and 2014. Kulish, 28, refused to testify during the trial and didn't make any remarks after the verdict. In March, a court in the southeastern city of Homel sentenced a man to death for the murder of a young woman. According to rights groups, more than 400 people have been sentenced to death in the ex-Soviet republic since the early 1990s. The European Union on November 20 urged Belarus to join a global moratorium on the death penalty as "a 1st step towards its abolition." "The death penalty is a cruel and inhuman punishment, which fails to act as a deterrent and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity," the EU said in a statement. (source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) RUSSIA: Jewish community opposes death penalty in Russia The Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FJCR) believes there is no point in introducing the death penalty in the country, including for terrorists. "Terrorists are very often suicide bombers and it's stupid t scare them with death. In the course of a big part of human history, classical assassins of the past committed crimes when much lesser sins were punishable by death. Criminals who commit murder are not stopped by the threat of death," Boruch Gorin, the head of the public relations department at FJCR, told Interfax-Religion on Friday. He said it is important to society that a murderer should not walk free, that a dangerous organization or group of people should be isolated and the state has a duty to ensure this isolation. "In this sense, I believe that situations when people who were sentenced to the death penalty and are serving life in prison are suddenly amnesties and walk free are unacceptable. It's unacceptable and deeply criminal," he said. He said such precedents are more dangerous to international security in general and "support global terrorism to a much greater degree that the abolition or non-introduction of the death penalty, which in any case doesn't stop anything." People who have committed terrorist attacks should spend the rest of their life in deep isolation, Gorin said. "Theoretically, the death penalty has a right to exist. Virtually every human court not only potentially, but also practically cannot guarantee the punishment of the person who really deserves the death penalty," Gorin said. (source: interfax-religion.com) FRANCE: France's Jean Marie Le Pen Calls For Decapitating Terrorists The founder of France's far-right National Front (FN) Jean Marie Le Pen has urged France to reinstate the death penalty and commit convicted terrorists to the guillotine, French weekly news magazine Marianne reports. Speaking at a press conference held at his palatial home in the west Parisian suburb of Saint Cloud, the controversial politician outlined his proposals to stop Islamist attacks, such as the ones that claimed 130 lives last week in the French capital. "We must restore the death penalty for terrorists," Le Pen said, before adding "with decapitation." Some of his other proposals included deporting illegal immigrants and creating 100,000 more places in prison to deter further extremist attacks. According to French weekly news magazine Le Point, Le Pen also called for the removal of dual citizenship and instead "force dual citizens to make a choice," while also making military service of up to six months compulsory. Jean Marie Le Pen's statement mirrored those of his daughter in the wake of the Islamist attacks on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January. At that time, Marine Le Pen, who now leads the National Front, vowed to hold a referendum on the death penalty should she be elected president in 2017. She has topped several presidential polls since she took leadership of the far-right nationalist party from her father, but the 2 are involved in a bitter dispute at present over Le Pen senior's reference to the Nazi Holocaust as a historical "detail." Marine Le Pen excluded her father from the party as a result, while he mounted a legal challenge against the decision. The death penalty has been outlawed in France for years, as the right to execute convicts was abolished by President Francois Mitterrand's government in 1981. The last execution took place only 4 years earlier and the standard method of delivering it was still the use of a guillotine. The last man to be executed in France was Tunisian Hamida Djandoubi who was convicted in 1977 of torturing and murdering a 21-year-old woman and was also accused of assaulti
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, S.C., FLA., CALIF.
Nov. 21 TEXAS: Prosecutor will seek death penalty in Texas campsite mass murders Anderson County District Attorney Allyson Mitchell said she will seek the death penalty against the man accused of killing 6 members of 2 families at a campsite near this East Texas town. Mitchell announced the decision to the Palestine Herald-Press late Friday afternoon. She filed capital murder charges earlier this week against William Hudson, 33, whose property abutted the campsite. He is being held without bond at the county jail. The penalty for capital murder in Texas is death by lethal injection or life in prison with no chance for parole. A jury makes the decision if the prosecutor asks for the death penalty. Mitchell said the case will be presented first to a county grand jury. Attorney Stephen Evans of Palestine was appointed to represent Hudson. The district attorney said the massacre was the "single most horrific crime committed in Anderson County's modern history. Our hearts grieve for the Johnson and Kamp families. We will use all resources available to prosecute Hudson to the fullest extent of the law." She told a news conference 5 of the victims were shot to death, and the 6th died from blunt force trauma, a deadly blow to the body. The sole survivor of the carnage, Cynthia Johnson, 73, hid in the woods from Hudson on Saturday night when authorities said he carried out the carnage. She called 911 about 7 a.m. Sunday to report the killings. He was arrested at his mother's nearby home. The district attorney said Hannah Hudson, 40, an insurance adjustor from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, died of blunt force trauma. Shot to death were her son, Jade, 6, her father, Carl Johnson, 77, her fiance Thomas Kamp, 46, and Kamp's 2 adults sons - Austin, 21, and Nathan, 24 - from a previous marriage. Mitchell said intense publicity raises the question of transferring the case to another jurisdiction in Texas, but she will insist it be prosecuted and tried in Anderson County. Arrest affidavits said survivor Cynthia Johnson, husband of Carl, told investigators Hudson befriended the campers Saturday afternoon when he used his tractor to free a vehicle stuck in mud. She said he later socialized and drank with them before slaughtering the victims. Investigators found the bodies of the Kamps and the Johnson child in a pond behind Hudson???s home. Hannah Johnson and her father were found dead in a silver travel trailer at the campsite, where Mrs. Johnson said they ran for their lives from Hudson. (source: The Daily Item) SOUTH CAROLINA: Stories of murder and execution to be heard Saturday The Mother Emanuel AME tragedy is part of the reason a North Carolina advocacy group decided to hold their annual conference in the greater Charleston area. The stories of murder and execution will be heard Saturday in North Charleston at the Hilton Garden Inn off International Boulevard. The group, "Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation" (MVFR) focuses on giving hope and healing to families of murder victims' and the death penalty. "It wrecked my life," said Teresa Avent, a member of the group whose brother was murdered. Avent said her brother's death turned her life upside-down. After several years she finally got to a place where she could face the accused killer and find a level of forgiveness. "Forgiveness is not so much for the offender," Avent said. "It's so much for us as the victims. It releases us to move forward in a productive manner.: Back in June the word 'forgiveness' rang across the Lowcountry and the nation. Family members of the victims killed in the Mother Emanuel AME shooting spoke of forgiveness to the accused killer. It's part of the reason MVFR chose this location for their conference. "Also because there's a broader suffering community and we wanted to highlight, amplify community, build voices to those who have been adversely affected by homicide," said Jeremy Collins, a board member. "We invited people from the community and the nation to come together and share experiences and stories they have of losing loved ones to murder and execution," said Executive Director, Jack Sullivan, Jr. The group also focuses on the death penalty and finding a better way to deal with that issue from a family victims' standpoint. Sullivan's sister was murdered 18 years ago. Her killer was never found, but to this day he said he wouldn't ask for execution. "We want to talk to the person and find out what he or she was going through," Sullivan said. "Why did he or she have to pull the trigger on my sister, our sister, and what is the best way for this person to be held accountable for what took place." South Carolina leaders from the NAACP President, Black Lives Matter, and Reverend Dr. Nelson Rivers will be in attendance. The day-long workshop will begin at 9:00 a.m. Saturday at the Hilton Garden Inn. The group welcomes famili
