31/07/2013 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
"The Council of Europe stands firmly in its opposition to the use of capital punishment under all circumstances. We therefore urge the State of Ohio to commute the sentence of Billy Slagle to life without parole,” Marina Schuster said.
31/07/2013 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“I am alarmed by the prospect of the imminent execution of Douglas Feldman, convicted for murder in 1999,” the rapporteur on abolition of the death penalty said. Feldman will be the 11th prisoner executed this year in Texas.
29/07/2013 | President
In a letter addressed to the President of the Italian Senate, the PACE President today expressed his condolences to the families of the victims of the coach accident that took place near Avellino, in the region Naples, in which 38 people lost their lives: "Let me convey you on behalf of all members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and on my own behalf, my deepest sympathy following the dramatic bus accident
26/07/2013 | Political Affairs and Democracy
"I strongly condemn the murder of Mohamed Brahmi, an opposition member of the Constituent Assembly. Not only did the murderers execute him in cold blood; they caused a setback to democratic development," Anne Brasseur said.
25/07/2013 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The General Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty, has called on the authorities in Alabama not to execute Andrew Reid Lackey. Mr Lackey, who was convicted of a 2005 murder, is due to be executed today, having waived all further appeals.
25/07/2013 | President
In a letter to the Speaker of the Spanish Chamber of Deputies, the PACE President today extended his condolences to the people of Spain, following yesterday’s train accident in Santiago de Compostela in which 80 people died and more than 100 were injured. "It is with profound sadness that I learned of the horrendous train accident which happened yesterday in Spain," he wrote.
25/07/2013 | President
“It was with dismay and concern that I heard of the murder of Tunisian politician and former leader of the ‘Movement of the People’ opposition party, Mohamed Brahmi, who was assassinated in Tunis today,” said PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon.
19/07/2013 | Monitoring
The co-rapporteurs for monitoring of Russia, Theodora Bakoyannis and Andreas Gross have expressed their deep concern at the Court’s decision in Kirov (Russia) to jail Alexei Navalny, Russian protest leader.
19/07/2013 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE Rapporteur on the Execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, Klaas de Vries (Netherlands, SOC), today comment on a bill currently debated in the Bulgarian Parliament providing, inter alia, for the possibility to terminate criminal investigations if they lasted more than two years.
18/07/2013 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
On behalf of the Assembly delegation, which she headed on 16 July 2013 in an exchange of views at FIFA headquarters in Zürich, Anne Brasseur (Luxembourg, ALDE) welcomed the direct, open dialogue initiated with the FIFA President.
18/07/2013 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Marina Schuster (Germany, ALDE), the 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..."
17/07/2013 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Marina Schuster (Germany, ALDE), the Parliamentary Assembly’s General Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty, regrets the execution, on 16 July 2013 in Texas, of John Manuel Quintanilla, who had married a German national whilst on death row. She called on Texas to immediately suspend the use of the death penalty, as a first step toward full abolition.