Blog de César Salgado

Amnistía Internacional publicou unha nota de prensa (13 - V - 2008) sobre Earl Wesley Berry. Este é outro caso de pena capital particularmente aberrante, xa que este home padece unha seria limitación das súas capacidades intelectuais e ten un documentado historial de transtornos mentais; segundo un dos peritos é esquizofrénico. Na nota de prensa fálase ademais doutras irregularidades do xuízo. A execución está prevista para o próximo día 21.

A nota de prensa leva por título “USA (Mississippi): Death penalty / Legal concern: Earl Wesley Berry (m)”. Copio un extracto do seu contido:

Earl Berry is scheduled to be executed in Mississippi at 6pm local time on 21 May 2008. He was sentenced to death for the murder of Mary Bounds in 1987. His lawyers have provided the courts with evidence that he has mental retardation which, if the case, would render his execution unconstitutional. [...]

He rejected an offer from the prosecution of a life sentence in return for a guilty plea. After a jury trial, he was sentenced to death on 28 October 1988.

The death sentence was overturned by the state Supreme Court which found fault with the instructions given to the jury, and a resentencing was held in June 1992. At this hearing, the defence presented mitigating evidence, including testimony from a neuropsychologist about Earl Berry’s low intellectual functioning and possible brain damage. A psychologist also testified that, in his opinion, Berry suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. [...]

Enlaces relacionados:

• Coalición Mundial contra a Pena de Morte
• Death Penalty Information Center
• National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Amnistía Internacional publicou unha nota de prensa (9 - V - 2008) sobre Percy Levar Walton. Falamos dun caso de pena capital particularmente aberrante, xa que este home é esquizofrénico, e xa estaba enfermo cando cometeu os asasinatos polos que foi condenado á morte. A execución está prevista para o próximo 10 de xuño.

A nota de prensa leva por título “USA (Virginia): Death penalty / Legal concern: Percy Levar Walton”. Copio un extracto do seu contido:

Levar Walton, who suffers from serious mental illness, is scheduled to be executed in Virginia on 10 June. He was sentenced to death in 1997 for the murders of an elderly white couple, Elizabeth and Jesse Hendrick, aged 81 and 80, and a 33-year-old black man, Archie Moore, in the town of Danville in November 1996.

In 1999, three mental health experts concluded that Levar Walton suffers from severe schizophrenia and was probably suffering from this mental illness at the time of the crime. Walton, who was 18 years and one month old at the time of the murders, had displayed signs of emerging mental illness since the age of 16. He manifested bizarre beliefs and inappropriate behaviour after his arrest, in pre-trial custody, and during the trial. [...]

The defence asked for a mental health expert, and the trial judge appointed a psychologist. After a series of meetings with Levar Walton, the psychologist developed serious doubts about his competence to stand trial, finding that Walton’s articulation of his thoughts was incomprehensible. He was particularly troubled by Levar Walton’s notion that execution did not result in permanent death. The psychologist recommended that Walton be placed in a secure psychiatric hospital. This was rejected by the trial judge. [...]

Virginia accounts for 98 of the 1,100 executions in the USA since judicial killing resumed in 1977. In 1999, Virginia’s then Governor, James Gilmore, commuted the death sentence of Calvin Swann on grounds of his schizophrenia from which he had suffered since his late teens. Swann was tried in front of the same judge, by the same prosecutor, and with the same defence lawyer, as Percy Levar Walton. [...]

Enlaces relacionados:

• Coalición Mundial contra a Pena de Morte
• Death Penalty Information Center
• National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Amnistía Internacional denunciou nunha nota de prensa (9 - V - 2008) a falta de garantías nos xuízos e o secretismo sobre a aplicación da pena de morte en Afganistán. Neste país, o Tribunal Supremo confirmou en abril unhas cen sentencias á pena capital, pero non deu os nomes dos sentenciados. Témese que as execucións teñan lugar en secreto como no mes de outubro pasado.

A nota de prensa leva por título “Afghanistan: Death penalty”. Copio un extracto do seu contido:

The Supreme Court of Afghanistan has upheld around 100 death sentences issued by lower courts against individuals convicted of crimes including murder, rape, kidnapping and armed robbery. The sentences require the approval of President Karzai before executions can be carried out. Amnesty International fears that sudden and large-scale executions may take place in secrecy as happened in October 2007.

On 16 April 2008, the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentences but withheld the names of the accused and the locations where they are being detained. Credible information received by Amnesty International shows that the trial proceedings in at least some of the cases fell far below international standards of fairness. Flaws in the trial procedures included inadequate time for the accused to prepare for their defence, lack of legal representation during court proceedings, weak evidence presented before the courts and the denial of the defendants’ right to call and examine witnesses. [...]

Enlace relacionado:

• Coalición Mundial contra a Pena de Morte

Amnistía Internacional publicou onte un informe sobre os ataques a civís de Somalia no 2007, incluíndo detencións arbitrarias, torturas, violacións, 6 000 mortos, 300 000 refuxiados, 600 000 desprazados internos, obstáculos e graves carencias na asistencia humanitaria…

O informe leva por título “Routinely Targeted: Attacks on Civilians in Somalia”. Copio un extracto da introducción:

Amnesty International is deeply concerned about ongoing human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict in Somalia, specifically torture and other ill-treatment, rape, extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detention, and attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. Some 6,000 civilians were reportedly killed in fighting in the capital Mogadishu and across southern and central Somalia in 2007, and over 600,000 Somali civilians were internally displaced from and around Mogadishu. In addition, an estimated 335,000 Somali refugees fled Somalia in 2007, despite enormous obstacles to their movement, including Kenya’s closure of its border with Somalia, armed combatants and bandits on the roads, and perilous travel across the Gulf of Aden. Somali civilians suffered violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the conflict areas of southern and central Somalia, on the roads as they fled conflict areas, and in camps and settlements to which they fled. UNICEF announced on 14 February 2008 that some 90,000 children could die in Somalia in the next few months due to a lack of adequate funding for nutrition, water and sanitation programmes. [...]

Both displaced persons and organizational representatives interviewed reported frequent incidents of rape and pillaging by Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces, an upsurge in violent abuses on the part of Ethiopian armed forces in Somalia, and the targeting of Somali journalists and human rights defenders by all parties to the conflict. House to house searches and raids by TFG or Ethiopian forces escalated since October 2007 in and around Mogadishu and were accompanied by violent actions taken against individuals, including unlawful killings in violation of international humanitarian law.

There is no safety for civilians wherever they run. Those fleeing violence in Mogadishu still face violence on the roads north toward Puntland and west toward Afgooye and Baidoa, including theft, rape and shootings. Once they arrive in both Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) and refugee settlements, they face further violence, and lack of access to services essential for the realization of human rights, including clean water, medical care, and adequate food supplies, because humanitarian operations are frequently impeded by parties to the conflict and armed criminal groups; the overall high levels of insecurity in these areas; or the lack of capacity among humanitarian organizations. [...]

Amnistía Internacional publicou hai uns días un informe de máis de duascentas páxinas sobre a pena de morte na India.

O informe leva por título “The Death Penalty in India: A lethal lottery. A study of Supreme Court judgments in death penalty cases 1950-2006″. Copio un extracto da súa versión abreviada:

India stands poised between the global trend to end the death penalty and those nations that continue to execute. Like many of the diminishing number of nations that still apply the death penalty, over the last two decades, India has reduced the number of executions carried out.

The Indian judiciary has ruled that the death penalty for murder must be restricted to the “rarest of rare” cases, but this instruction has been contradicted by the legislature increasing the number of offences punishable by death. The death penalty is mandatory under two of the relevant laws, including for drug-related offences. Death sentences have been imposed on people who may have been children at the time of the crime, and on people suffering from mental illness. There are grave concerns about arbitrariness and discrimination in the processes that lead to people being sentenced to death. Such factors would render India’s use of the death penalty to be in violation of international laws and standards. [...]

In the past three decades, great strides have been made towards a world free from executions. In 1980 only 25 countries had abolished the death penalty for all crimes. That figure now stands at 91, with a further 11 countries having abolished the death penalty for “ordinary” crimes (but retained it for offences such as treason or under military law). Thirty-three countries are considered by Amnesty International to be “abolitionist in practice” in that they retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes such as murder but have not executed anyone during the past 10 years and are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions, meaning that a total of 135 of the world’s nations have turned their back on capital punishment in law or practice.

The worldwide trend towards abolition is strong and clear. Outside China, an execution is becoming an increasingly rare event. Vast swathes of the world are now execution-free. In Africa only five countries executed in 2007; Belarus is the only European country that continues to use the death penalty; and the USA is the sole country in the Americas to have carried out any executions since 2003. [...]

It is a shocking fact that most death sentences handed down in India are based on circumstantial evidence alone. In the absence of forensic facilities, the testimony of witnesses is crucial, but there is widespread acknowledgement of the use by police and prosecution of stock or professional witnesses. [...]

A number of cases examined in the present study illustrate how innocent persons have been sentenced to death on the basis of false and fabricated evidence, often used in manipulated investigations and prosecutions, with investigating and prosecuting agencies acting in collusion. The object is often to protect influential offenders. The study revealed a number of capital cases in which confessions appear to have been procured forcibly. The Supreme Court’s acceptance of evidence that might not have been given voluntarily in a number of cases tried under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act 1987 (TADA) is a matter of particular concern. [...]

Enlace relacionado:

• Coalición Mundial contra a Pena de Morte

Amnistía Internacional publicou hoxe un breve informe sobre violacións (impunes) dos Direitos Humanos cometidas por policías de Mozambique. O informe leva por título “Licence to kill: Police accountability in Mozambique”. Copio un extracto do seu contido:

The peace agreement that ended the 15 year civil war in 1992, committed the government of Mozambique to restructure and retrain the police, this included public order management, investigative techniques and human rights. In 1997, a two-phase project to train the police started under the co-ordination of the UNDP. Between 1997 and 2004, when the project ended, members of the Spanish Civil Guard trained police instructors who retrained other officers in the country. A third phase of the project, between 2004 and 2007, aimed to assist the Policia de República de Moçambique (PRM) in improving police accountability and transparency. [...]

Between 2004 and 2007, Amnesty International received numerous reports of human rights violations by the police in Mozambique. Many of these cases refer to extrajudicial executions. In almost all cases no disciplinary action was carried out against the police responsible for the violations nor have they been prosecuted, creating the impression that the police have a licence to kill. [...]

There have been many cases where excessive use of force by police resulted in death. In 2006 and 2007, Amnesty International received reports of at least 13 cases where police shot and killed individual suspects and gangs while they were allegedly attempting to flee from custody. Amnesty International believes that in some of these cases the police use of lethal force amounted to extrajudicial executions. [...]

O informe está disponible tamén en portugués, baixo o título “Licença para matar: Responsabilização da Polícia em Moçambique”. Copio un extracto do seu contido:

[...] O acordo de paz que pôs termo à guerra civil de 15 anos em 1992 comprometeu o governo de Moçambique a reestruturar e a oferecer nova formação à polícia, o que inclui as áreas da
gestão da ordem pública, técnicas de investigação e direitos humanos. Em 1997, teve início um projecto em duas fases para formar a polícia, sob a coordenação do Programa das Nações Unidas para o Desenvolvimento (PNUD). Entre 1997 e 2004, quando o projecto terminou, agentes da Guarda Civil Espanhola formaram instrutores da polícia, que por sua vez deram formação a outros agentes no país. Uma terceira fase do projecto, entre 2004 e 2007, teve como objectivo ajudar a Polícia da República de Moçambique (PRM) a melhorar a responsabilização e transparência da polícia. [...]

Entre 2004 e 2007, a Amnistia Internacional recebeu inúmeros relatos de violações dos direitos humanos pela polícia em Moçambique. Muitos destes casos, tal como o caso acima, referem-se a execuções extrajudiciais. Em quase todos os casos, não foram tomadas quaisquer medidas disciplinares contra os agentes da polícia responsáveis pelas violações dos direitos humanos e eles não foram também processados, dando a impressão de que a polícia tem licença para matar. [...]

Houve muitos casos nos quais o uso excessivo da força pela polícia resultou em mortes. Em 2006 e 2007, a Amnistia Internacional recebeu relatos de pelo menos 13 casos nos quais a polícia atingiu a tiro e matou indivíduos suspeitos e gangues enquanto estes tentavam alegadamente fugir da custódia policial. A Amnistia Internacional acredita que, em alguns destes casos, o uso de força letal pela polícia correspondeu a execuções extrajudiciais. [...]

Amnistía Internacional publicou a semana pasada o informe sobre Alxeria que foi enviado ó Comité contra a Tortura das Nacións Unidas.

O documento leva por título “Algeria: Briefing to the Committee Against Torture”. Copio un extracto da súa introducción:

[...] This briefing summarizes some of Amnesty International’s main concerns on Algeria, as documented in a number of the organization’s past reports. These concerns relate broadly to a persistent pattern of secret detention and torture by the Department for Information and Security (Département du Renseignement et de la Sécurité, DRS), an intelligence agency which specializes in interrogating individuals who are believed to have information about terrorist activities; to the failure of the state party to provide an effective remedy to victims of human rights abuses, including torture and ill-treatment; and to continuing violence against women.

Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees suspected of terrorist activities in Algeria are being committed in the wake of more than a decade of violence, sparked by the cancellation in 1992 of the multi-party elections which the Islamic Salvation Front (Front Islamique du Salut, FIS), an Islamist political party, was widely expected to win. During the internal conflict, safeguards for human rights protection were grievously eroded. Human rights violations in the name of counter-terrorism became entrenched as security forces ruthlessly combated armed groups who were committing grave and widespread abuses against civilians, including unlawful killings, abductions, torture and rape.. The state’s security forces and, later, state-armed militia (referred to by the authorities as “legitimate defence groups”, “self-defence groups” or “patriots”) committed massive human rights violations and abuses, including extrajudicial executions and other unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, secret and arbitrary detentions, and torture and other ill-treatment of thousands of real or suspected members or supporters of armed groups. The DRS, the force most associated with torture and other ill-treatment today, played a key role in the escalation of such human rights violations during the 1990s.

Notwithstanding the decrease in violence and gross human rights abuses associated with the internal conflict that has occurred in recent years, Amnesty International continues to regularly receive reports of incommunicado detention of suspects in unofficial places of detention and torture by the DRS, in the context of the government’s counter-terrorism operations. Further, while the initiative taken by the government in 2004 to enact provisions in national law to criminalize torture was welcome, it can be noted that these new provisions have failed to end the use of torture by the DRS.

The vast majority of the human rights abuses committed by both armed groups and state security forces, including torture and ill-treatment, in the context of the internal conflict have not been investigated. Impunity for past violations has been further entrenched through amnesty laws introduced by the government in 2006 with the stated intention of bringing closure to the years of violence. These laws provided for exemption from prosecution or release under an amnesty of those convicted of or detained on charges of terrorist activity, and granted comprehensive impunity to members of the security forces responsible for human rights violations.

Women have been particularly affected by violence since the onset of the internal conflict. They have been targeted for abduction, rape and other forms of sexual violence by armed groups, and have suffered disproportionately from the anguish at not knowing the truth as to the fate of thousands of men forcibly disappeared during the conflict. Further, violence against women within the family is prevalent. [...]

Amnistía Internacional publicou a semana pasada un informe sobre Omar Khadr, un dos presos de Guantánamo que foi detido cando aínda era menor de idade. El, concretamente, tiña quince anos cando o detiveron en Afganistán…

O informe leva por título “USA: In whose best interests? Omar Khadr, child ‘enemy combatant’ facing military commission”. Copio un extracto do seu contido:

[...] What the government glosses over is the fact that Omar Khadr spent the final 26 months of his childhood in virtually incommunicado and highly coercive US military detention. His age today should not distract attention from his age at the time he was taken into custody nearly six years ago. To ignore this would give governments carte blanche to hold children in custody until they become adults in order to treat them as adults. That would drain international law of its protections.

The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice, the UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty, and other international standards require that detention pending trial shall be used only as a measure of last resort. All efforts should be found to find alternatives to detention, but if detention is used the highest priority must be given to “the most expeditious processing of such cases to ensure the shortest possible duration of detention”. While in custody, the child shall receive care, protection and all necessary individual assistance – social, educational, vocational, psychological, medical and physical – that they may require. At the same time, whether adult or child, the detainee shall be protected from any torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and the state is prohibited from taking advantage of the detainee’s situation to coerce information from him. [...]

Amnistía Internacional publicou esta semana varios documentos sobre a pena de morte no mundo, entre eles un reconto por países das condenas impostas e das execucións. Debemos considerar que estas cifras son as feitas públicas por cada Goberno e soen ser inferiores ás reais.

Estes son os primeiros da lista en cifras absolutas:

• China (470+)
• Irán (317+)
• Arabia Saudí (143+)
• Pakistán (135+)
• Estados Unidos (42)
• Iraq (33+)
• Vietnam (25+)
• Iemen (15+)
• Afganistán (15)

O documento está disponible en HTML ou PDF, con versións en inglés, español, árabe e francés en “Death sentences and executions in 2007″. Copio un extracto do seu contido:

During 2007, at least 1252 people were executed in 24 countries. At least 3347 people were sentenced to death in 51 countries. These were only minimum figures; the true figures were certainly higher.

Many countries carry out executions in secret and refuse to divulge any information on the use of the death penalty. Such countries include China, Singapore, Malaysia and Mongolia. The United Nations has repeatedly called for the death penalty only to be used in an open and transparent manner. [...]

As in previous years, the vast majority of executions worldwide were carried out in a small handful of countries. In 2007, 88 per cent of all known executions took place in five countries: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the USA. Saudi Arabia had the highest number of executions per capita, followed by Iran and Libya.

In 2007 the Chinese authorities again refused to publish statistics on the government’s use of the death penalty leaving the world in the dark about the number of executions carried out. Amnesty International believes there is likely to have been a significant drop in executions during 2007 after Supreme People’s Court (SPC) review for all death sentences was restored on 1 January. In 2007 470 executions were recorded by AI, but this number is based on public reports available and serves as an absolute minimum. The US-based organization “Dui Hua Foundation” estimates that 6,000 people were executed last year based on figures obtained from local officials. In a country as vast as China with tight government controls on information and the media only the authorities know the reality behind the use of the death penalty. [...]

Outro documento publicado esta semana por AI so ten versión en inglés: é “The death penalty worldwide developments in 2007″. Copio un extracto da súa introducción:

[...] In 2007 the world continued to move closer to the universal abolition of the capital punishment. Historical landmark towards the worldwide abolition of death penalty is the resolution on moratorium on executions endorsed by the United Nations 62nd General Assembly on 18 December 2007.

104 UN member states voted in favour of the ground-breaking resolution. 54 countries voted against, while 29 abstained. The resolution was supported by 87 governments from all regions of the world, as well as by NGOs including the World Coalition against the Death Penalty, the Community of Sant’Egidio, Hands Off Cain and Amnesty International.

More than two thirds of the countries in the world have now abolished the death penalty in law or practice. By the end of the 2007, 91 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. During the year, three countries (Albania, Cook Islands and Rwanda) abolished the death penalty for all crimes and one country (Kyrgyzstan) abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes.

One state of the USA (New Jersey) joined the global trend towards ending the capital punishment. New Jersey was the first US state to abolish the capital punishment by law since the death penalty was reintroduced in the US in 1972. [...]

Amnistía Internacional publicou hoxe unha nota de prensa denunciando a execución en Xapón de catro condenados a morte.

A nota de prensa leva por título “Japan: executions must stop, says Amnesty International”. Copio o seu contido:

Amnesty International deeply regrets the hanging of four men — Akinaga Kaoru, 61, Nakamoto Masayoshi, 64, Nakamura Masahura, 61 and Sakamoto Masahito, 41 — in Japan today, Thursday 10 April.

These executions bring to seven the number of executions announced in Japan in 2008.

“We are extremely concerned about the increased number of executions. We call on the Japanese government to adopt an immediate moratorium on executions in accordance with last year’s UN resolution,” said Amnesty International.

The executions have taken place despite the UN General Assembly’s adoption in December 2007 of resolution calling upon all member states to uphold a moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolishing the death penalty. The resolution (62/149) was passed by a large majority: 104 votes to 54.

Executions in Japan are typically held in secret. Until December 2007 the Ministry of Justice did not disclose the names of those executed or details of their offence. Prisoners are still only informed hours before their executions and these are carried out without prior notice to their families.

Under the Minister of Justice Hatoyama Kunio, there have been ten executions in less than six months. He announced publicly in September 2007 that he was considering scrapping the rule under the Criminal Procedure Code requiring the signature of the Minister of Justice for executions. This will allow for death row inmates to be automatically executed within six months of the end of their appeals process.

In 2006 only 25 countries carried out executions. Among G8 members Japan is now the only country with a fully operational death penalty system: the US Supreme Court has suspended all executions until it rules on the use of lethal injections.

Enlace relacionado:

• Coalición Mundial contra a Pena de Morte