08/11/2012 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE’s General Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty, Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD), today regretted the narrow loss of SAFE California initiative in the California election on 6 November. Addressing a message to anti-death penalty activists, she stated: “You have come a long way already, don’t give up!...
10/10/2012 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“The tide is continuing to turn against the death penalty worldwide. The Council of Europe, by making abolition of the death penalty a condition of membership, has led the way at regional level, but there is still plenty of work for us to do,” said Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD), PACE rapporteur on abolition of the death penalty, speaking today on the occasion of the World Day against the Death Penalty.
20/09/2012 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“Democratically elected parliaments are well-placed to find the best solutions to prevent and punish urban violence in each European country,” today stressed Christopher Chope (United Kingdom, EDG), Chairperson of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, intervening on behalf of the Assembly’s President at the 31st Council of Europe Conference of Ministers of Justice in Vienna (19-21 September 2012).
06/09/2012 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“The difficulty of striking a European consensus on the issue of ‘sects’ does not mean that we should drop the idea of establishing rules and policies at European level to protect minors against sectarian excesses,” said Rudy Salles (France, EPP/CD), rapporteur on the protection of minors against sectarian influence, speaking today at the opening of a hearing on this subject organised in Paris by PACE’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.
28/08/2012 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD), the Parliamentary Assembly's General Rapporteur on the death penalty, is dismayed by recent reports of a wave of executions in The Gambia. "The Gambia had already successfully abolished the death penalty. Even after current President Jammeh brought back capital punishment in 1995, he respected a de facto moratorium..."
09/08/2012 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD), PACE General Rapporteur on the death penalty, strongly condemned the execution, in Texas, of Marvin Wilson, considered as mentally impaired because of his low IQ. "The death penalty is a violation of human rights. The execution of Marvin Wilson is particularly shocking, as even the US Supreme Court, in 2002, had outlawed the execution of mentally handicapped persons," she said.
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.