06/08/2012 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
"I strongly condemn the executions of two death row inmates, Junya Hattori and Kyozo Matsumura in Japan last week”, PACE General Rapporteur on the death penalty Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD) said today. “I am bitterly disappointed by the attitude of the Japanese authorities", she added.
21/05/2012 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“Today the situation of human rights defenders in Europe is far from satisfactory. In some Council of Europe member states they risk their own personal security, especially when they champion sensitive issues such as fighting the impunity of state officials for serious crimes including murder, torture and corruption, or promoting the rights of oppressed minority groups,” said Mailis Reps (Estonia, ALDE) in her report on the situation of human rights defenders in Council of Europe member states.
21/05/2012 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
What are the limits for decisions made by politicians involving risks that are not the normal risks of normal citizens? In a hearing on this issue, organised by PACE’s Legal Affairs Committee in Paris today, the rapporteur Pieter Omtzigt (Netherlands, EPP/CD) stressed that political and criminal responsibility had to be kept separate...
04/05/2012 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Pieter Omtzigt (Netherlands, EPP/CD), who is preparing a PACE report on “Keeping political and criminal responsibility separate”, will make a fact-finding visit to Iceland from 7 to 9 May 2012 to examine the case of former Prime Minister Geir Haarde, who was put on trial for failing to take appropriate ministerial action to avert the 2008 banking crisis.
12/04/2012 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD), PACE former rapporteur on abolition of the death penalty in the organisation’s member and observer states, today congratulated the people of Connecticut on the abolition of the death penalty in their State: “I admire the humility of Connecticut Senate President Donald E. Williams Jr. who said that ‘in a system of justice that is not perfect, we must not employ a penalty that requires perfection’..."
12/03/2012 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Restrictions on an individual’s movement – such as a visa ban or refusing entry to a country – should never be used as a sanction for holding “peacefully-held political opinions”, PACE’s Legal Affairs Committee has said in a draft resolution adopted today in Paris.
27/02/2012 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, who was sentenced today by a Kyiv court to four years in prison for abuse of office and abuse of power, is “the victim of a political vendetta”, according to Marieluise Beck (Germany, ALDE), PACE Rapporteur on “Threats to the rule of law in Council of Europe member states: asserting the Parliamentary Assembly’s authority”.
22/02/2012 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Marieluise Beck (Germany, ALDE) will conduct a fact-finding visit to Kyiv in connection with the preparation of her report on “Threats to the Rule of Law in Council of Europe member states - Upholding the authority of the Parliamentary Assembly”.
03/01/2012 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Christoph Strässer (Germany, SOC), PACE rapporteur on “revisiting the issue of political prisoners”, has welcomed the recent liberation of Mehman Mammadov, Jabbar Savalan and Nizami Shamuradov as part of the traditional end-of-year amnesty. “I warmly welcome the liberation of these three persons, who were included in the provisional list of alleged political prisoners which I am currently studying. This is obviously a step in the right direction,” said Mr Strässer.
13/12/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
In a draft resolution adopted today at a meeting in Paris, PACE Legal Affairs Committee condemns any form of enforced population transfer in Europe and elsewhere as a human rights violation and invites all Council of Europe member states to do so, including in their international relations with states outside Europe.
08/12/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“Five years ago we put forward substantial elements of proof of a secret CIA prison in Romania," former PACE rapporteur Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE) said today, reacting to news reports. "There have been years of official denials since then. But the dynamic of truth has run its course and we are at last beginning to learn what really happened in Bucharest. I am pleased that the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly made its contribution by jump-starting this dynamic. Those responsible for the crimes committed – and their cover-up – should now be held to account in a court of law."
23/11/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE rapporteur Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD) today warmly welcomed Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber’s decision to stop executions during the rest of his term of office and his intention to advocate a ballot to outlaw the death penalty. “It takes courageous men and women like John Kitzhaber to abolish the death penalty,” Mrs Wohlwend stressed.