23/08/2007 President
Strasbourg, 23.08.2007 - Following his statement concerning an execution in Texas, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) President René van der Linden today also strongly condemned the execution of three death row inmates in Japan.
Mr van der Linden expressed regret that according to the information available, current Justice Minister Jinen Nagase has signed the execution orders for ten death row inmates since taking office and did not pursue the direction taken by his predecessor, Seiken Sugiura, who refused to sign the orders during his term, thus ending a de facto moratorium.
He stressed that PACE finds it inadmissible that the Assembly’s appeals to Japan and the United States, which both enjoy observer states with the 47-member organisation since 1996, for an immediate moratorium on executions have gone unheeded and that both countries continue to apply the death penalty. “By doing so, they violate their fundamental commitment to share the Council of Europe’s core values – the principles of democracy, the rule of law and the ejoyment by all persons within its jurisdiction of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” he said.
“The death penalty has no legitimate place in the penal systems of modern civilised societies, and its application constitutes torture and inhuman or degrading punishment within the meaning of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights,” he said.
He recalled that PACE is also very concerned about conditions on “Death Row”, both in Japan and in the United States, exacerbating the mental anguish known as the “Death Row phenomenon”, which was expressly declared a violation of human rights by the European Court of Human Rights in 1989. He urged the authorities concerned to immediately improve conditions on “Death Row”, in particular by ending all secrecy surrounding executions and unnecessary limitations on rights and freedoms as well as broadening access to post-conviction and post-appeal judicial review.