25/07/2013 Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Strasbourg, 25.07.2013 – Marina Schuster (Germany, ALDE), the General Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), 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 later today, having waived all further appeals.
“The Council of Europe is opposed to the use of the death penalty in all cases and under any circumstances,” said Mrs Schuster. “An increasing number of US states have been rejecting capital punishment for good and powerful reasons, and there is every reason why Alabama could become the next state to do so.”
“Since the existence of the death penalty, we have witnessed too many flaws that have led to wrongful convictions or discriminatory treatment. The proper course of action is to abolish it altogether. Such a drastic and inhuman sanction does not belong in the legislation of any country which claims to uphold democracy, the rule of law and human rights.”
No executions are carried out in the 47 member states of the Council of Europe.