EU Policy On The Death Penalty
EMBASSY OF GREECE
Washington, DC
EU Presidency
4 March, 2003
The Honorable
Rick Perry
Governor of Texas
State Capital
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711
Dear Governor Perry,
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. Governor, 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 are therefore respectfully urging you and the
Board of Pardons and Paroles, to take all the aforementioned factors into
account and to commute Mr. Colburn’s sentence to any penalty other than capital
punishment
Letter to Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
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
