23/11/2011 Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Strasbourg, 23.11.2011 - Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) rapporteur Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD) today warmly welcomed Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber’s decision to stop executions during the rest of his term of office and his intention to advocate a ballot to outlaw the death penalty.
“It takes courageous men and women like John Kitzhaber to abolish the death penalty. Far too often, politicians resign in front of the challenge to ban capital punishment, afraid of what they deem to be an unpopular measure and driven by their own electoral agenda. The Council of Europe’s relentless efforts have largely contributed to making the European continent a death penalty-free zone and we continue to pass the word beyond our borders: death is not justice,” Mrs Wohlwend stressed.