05/12/2014 Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Marietta Karamanli (France, SOC), general rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on abolition of the death penalty, welcomed the decision of a United States federal court of appeal to stay the execution of Scott Panetti, which was scheduled to take place in Texas.
"Scott Panetti has antecedents of severe mental illness, since he had been hospitalised more than a dozen times with schizophrenia and other mental disorders before the offence of which he was convicted" she stated. "There are many signs that he does not even understand the reasons for his sentence."
The rapporteur also raised doubts about the fairness of his trial, saying "I consider that Mr Panetti should never have been allowed to represent himself in court."
"While the Council of Europe is against the death penalty in all circumstances, it must be underlined that executing persons suffering from severe mental illnesses constitutes a violation of international human rights law, and it is also a breach of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution", she concluded.