06/07/2011 Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Strasbourg, 06.07.2011 - Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD), Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) rapporteur on the death penalty, today launched a last-ditch appeal to the Texan authorities to refrain from executing Humberto Leal García, a Mexican national, who was sentenced to death in 1995. His execution is currently scheduled for July 7 in Huntsville, Texas.
“Mr. Leal was never informed about his right to request consular assistance, as he should have been under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. He was charged, tried and sentenced to death without being told of this right. The government of Mexico, if informed, would have taken measures to ensure that Humberto Leal was represented by competent attorneys. The International Court of Justice held seven years ago that his conviction should be reviewed and reconsidered. Pending the passage of legislation needed to implement this judgment, which the U.S. Government recognises as binding, Texas should not commit the irreparable and execute Mr. Leal before his conviction can be reviewed,” Ms Wohlwend stated.
It is now over seven years since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Avena Case ruled that the USA had violated article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) in the cases of 51 Mexican men – including Humberto Leal – who had been sentenced to death in the USA. The ICJ ordered the USA to provide judicial “review and reconsideration” of the convictions and sentences to determine if the defense of these individuals had been harmed by the VCCR violations.
After the 2008 execution in Texas of Mr. Ernesto Medellin, Mexico returned to the ICJ, which confirmed in 2009 that its original ruling, including that Humberto Leal not be executed pending such review and reconsideration, was “fully intact” and placed an obligation on the USA which “must be performed unconditionally; non-performance of it constitutes internationally wrongful conduct”. Any aspects of domestic law hindering compliance were no excuse, the ICJ emphasised, stating that the USA must “rapidly” find an “effective” means of complying.
The Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly had called on the United States to implement the Avena judgment in its Resolution 1807 adopted in April 2011.