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..."
21/08/2012 | Prizes
A delegation of parliamentarians, led by the Chairman of the PACE Sub-Committee on the Europe Prize, Sir Alan Meale (United Kingdom, SOC), presented today the 2012 Europe prize to Sighişoara’s Mayor, Ioan Dorin Dăneşan, during a ceremony. The 2012 Europe Prize has been awarded jointly to the town of Sighişoara and the Italian town of Corciano, for which the award ceremony will be held on 12 August.
21/08/2012 | Monitoring
PACE co-rapporteurs for Georgia, Michael Aastrup Jensen (Denmark, ALDE) and Boriss Cilevičs (Latvia, SOC) today expressed their concern about the reports that the Georgian authorities have seized the bank accounts of the Georgian Dream opposition coalition, thereby undermining its participation in the election campaign for the parliamentary elections that will take place on 1 October 2012. “The excessive and disproportionate fines levied by the State Audit Service effectively undermine normal political activity by an opposition party," said the co-rapporteurs.
21/08/2012 | President
“I take note of the decision of the Constitutional Court regarding the referendum on the dismissal of the Romanian President. All institutions and political players in Romania must abide by this decision,” today said PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon. “Once again, I call on all politicians to exercise wisdom and overcome their differences to ensure that cohabitation takes place under the best possible conditions,” he added.
17/08/2012 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“In the text of Article 27 of the draft constitution as approved by the Rights and Freedoms Committee of the Tunisian Constituent Assembly, it is affirmed that women are ‘complementary’ to men. Dropping the concept of equality in favour of the concept of complementarity means challenging it, taking a step backwards from the situation enshrined in the 1956 Constitution and sending out a negative signal to Tunisian society and to other countries in the region,” today said Fatiha Saïdi, PACE rapporteur on 'Equality between women and men: a condition for the success of the Arab Spring'.
17/08/2012 | President
PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon today voiced his concern at the two-year prison sentence handed down in Russia to three activists of the ‘Pussy Riot’ group. “In a democracy, the right to freedom of expression may be subject to conditions intended inter alia to protect morals and the rights of others. However, the penalties imposed must be proportionate to the seriousness of the offence. Bearing in mind the standards of the Council of Europe, a two-year prison sentence for the alleged acts is patently disproportionate,” the President said.
16/08/2012 | Monitoring
The PACE co-rapporteurs for Ukraine, Mailis Reps (Estonia, ALDE) and Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin (Sweden, EPP/CD), welcomed the release on Tuesday of Valeriy Ivaschenko, who was acting Defence Minister in the cabinet of former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko. At the same time, they expressed their hope that his release would soon be followed by that of Juriy Lutsenko and Yulia Timoshenko whose ongoing detention is of concern to the Assembly.
14/08/2012 | Prizes
A delegation of parliamentarians, led by the Vice-Chairperson of the PACE Sub-Committee on the Europe Prize, Axel Fischer (Germany, EPP/CD), presented on 12 August the 2012 Europe prize to the Mayor of the Italian town of Corciano, Nadia Ginetti. The ceremony was attended by the mayors of Corciano’s twin cities, mayors of last year winning towns – Hünfeld (Germany) and Landerneau (France) – and the President of the Congress' Chamber of Local Authorities, Jean-Claude Frecon.
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.
07/08/2012 | Prizes
The Italian town of Corciano (province of Perugia) will receive the 2012 Europe Prize at a ceremony on Sunday 12 August at 5.30 pm (Piazza Coragino), to be attended by the public, local personalities and the mayors of its three twin-towns, Pentling in Germany, Civrieux d'Azergues in France and Libiaz in Poland. On this occasion, a delegation of parliamentarians, led by the Vice-Chairperson of PACE Sub-Committee on the Europe Prize, Axel Fischer (Germany, EPP/CD), will present the prize to Corciano’s Mayor, Nadia Ginetti.
07/08/2012 | Monitoring
Josette Durrieu (France, SOC), PACE rapporteur on the post-monitoring dialogue with Turkey, welcomed the release of the Franco-Turkish student Sevil Sevimli. “We were gravely concerned over Ms Sevimli’s arrest and imprisonment. We have followed developments in this case, in liaison with the family. Moreover, under my terms of reference as rapporteur to the Parliamentary Assembly, I have set up a contact with the Turkish Minister of Justice,” explained Ms Durrieu...
06/08/2012 | President
The President of the Assembly, Jean-Claude Mignon, today conveyed his message of support to the judges of the country’s Constitutional Court. “The role of the Constitutional Court is to guarantee respect for the Constitution and the laws, which is essential for the institutions to function democratically. It is thus crucial to safeguard its independence, and any political intrusion into its proceedings is unacceptable,” he said.