02/08/2019 Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Titus Corlăţean (Romania, SOC), general rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the abolition of the death penalty, expressed his deep regret at the decision of the United States of America Federal Government to resume capital punishment and to schedule executions of five death-row inmates, announced on 25 July by the Department of Justice.
“I am deeply disappointed that the United States Federal Government has decided to reinstate the death penalty after a de facto 16-year moratorium on executions. While 21 states have abolished the capital sentence and governors of four states have established moratoriums on executions, this decision of the Federal Government goes against the growing trend to eliminate this sentence both in the country and in the world”, the rapporteur stated.
“The death penalty is always a cruel and inhuman punishment, whatever the crime, and it should no longer be applied in democratic states that respect human rights. I call on the federal authorities of the United States, an observer state at the Council of Europe, to reassess at political level the possibility of doing away entirely with this sentence, in line with our shared values as spelled out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international treaties”, he added.