18/07/2013 Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Marina Schuster (Germany, ALDE), the Parliamentary Assembly’s General Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty, today made the following statement in view of the imminent executions of Vaughn Ross and Warren Hill in the United States of America:
“It is clear that the world is becoming an increasingly lonely place for states that still practice executions. A consensus is building that the death penalty should go, a trend that should be encouraged. Execution is an indefensible archaic way of punishment. We therefore strongly urge the authorities to not put Vaughn Ross and Warren Hill to death.
Especially with a view to Mr. Hill, we are deeply concerned by the possibility of a mentally disabled person being executed. In a 2002 ruling, the Supreme Court of the United States barred the execution of people suffering from mental impairment, as this is in clear violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Our appeal must not be perceived as outside interference. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe as well as the General Assembly of the United Nations called several times on states to abolish the death penalty worldwide. The planned executions or Mr. Ross and Mr. Hill would be an unpardonable blemish on the human rights record of the United States, an observer state with the Council of Europe. “Hill, 52, was already serving life in prison for the murder of his girlfriend when he fatally bludgeoned a fellow prisoner in 1990. He was subsequently sentenced to death. He will be put to death on Friday.”