EU Policy On The Death Penalty
EMBASSY OF GREECE
Washington, DC
EU Presidency
4 March, 2003
Chairman Gerald Garrett
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
Executive Clemency Section
P.O. Box 13401
Capital Section
Austin, TX 78711
Dear Mr. Chairman,
Following up on the letter sent to you on
October 24, 2002, under the Danish Presidency of the European Union, Greece,
as current
president, would like to convey to you on behalf of the European Union an
urgent humanitarian appeal to spare the life of James B. Colburn, who has been
sentenced to death and is scheduled to be executed on March 26, 2003.
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
http://www.eurunion.org/legislat/deathpenalty/eumemorandum.htm, the European
Union is opposed to 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.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to remind you of the arguments presented
in the letter of October 24, 2002 which led the European Union to believe that,
in the case of Mr. Colburn, several elements contradict the minimum standards
set forth in several international instruments.
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 the period 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, and your fellow
board members, to take all the aforementioned factors into account and to exercise
all powers vested in your office, to commute Mr. Colburn’s sentence to any penalty
other than capital punishment.
Letter
to Texas Governor Perry.
2002 Danish Presidency Letter to Governor Perry.
2002 Danish Presidency Letter to Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Embassy of Greece
2221 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 939-5800 Fax (202) 939-5824
E-mail: greece@greekembassy.org
Website:
http://www.greekembassy.org/Embassy/content/en/Root.aspx
