EU Policy On The Death Penalty
Royal Danish Embassy
Washington, DC
EU Presidency
Chairman Gerald Garrett
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
Executive Clemency Section
PO Box 13401
Capital Section
Austin, Texas 78711
File: 27.USA.1
24 October, 2002
Dear Chairman Garrett,
The European Union has learned that Mr. James Blake Colburn
is to be executed in the State of Texas on November 6, 2002. On behalf of
the European Union, Denmark, as current
President, together with Greece, the
subsequent President, and the European Commission would like to make an
urgent humanitarian appeal to spare the life of Mr. James Blake Colburn.
As stated in the EU memorandum on the Death Penalty,
which has been shared with you on previous occasions (it can also be found
on the web page:
www.eurunion.org/legislat/deathpenalty/eumemorandum.htm, the European
Union opposes the death penalty in all cases and accordingly aims at its
universal abolition, seeking a global moratorium on the death penalty as a
first step.
The European Union considers that in those countries, which
have not yet abolished the death penalty, this penalty should not be imposed
on persons suffering from a mental disorder. Mr. Colburn has a long history
of severe mental illness from before the crime. He has been diagnosed with
chronic paranoid schizophrenia characterized by hallucinations and
delusions.
The EU strongly believes that the execution of persons suffering
from a mental disorder is contrary to widely accepted human rights norms and in
contradiction to the minimum standards of human rights set forth in several international
human rights instruments. Among them are United Nations Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC) Resolution 1989/64 of 24 May 1989 on the implementation of the safeguards
guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty as well
as
Resolution 2002/77 adopted at the last session of the United Nations Commission
on Human Rights. This resolution specifically urges all states still maintaining
the death penalty "not to impose the death penalty on a person suffering
from any form of mental disorder or to execute any such person."
We therefore respectfully urge you, Mr. Chairman, as we
have also urged the Governor of Texas, to take these factors into account
and to exercise all the powers vested in your office to grant Mr. Colburn
relief from the death penalty.
Sincerely,
| Ulrik Federspiel |
Georges Savvaides |
P.o. Günter Burghardt |
| Ambassador of Denmark |
Ambassador of Greece |
Ambassador, Head of the Delegation
of the European Commission |
Royal Danish Embassy
3200 Whitehaven Street, NW
Washington, DC 20008-3683
(202) 234-4300 Fax (202) 328-1470
E-mail: wasamb@um.dk
Website: http://www.denmarkemb.org/
