EU Policy On The Death Penalty
EU Presidency
2234
Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington,
DC 20008
Chairwoman
Rissie Owens
Texas Board of
Pardons and Paroles
P.O. Box1340
Austin, Texas 78711-3401
January 15, 2004
Dear Chairwoman Owens,
The European Union has learned that Mr. Scott Panetti is to be executed in
the State of Texason 5 February, 2004. On behalf of the European Union, Ireland,
as current
Presidency, together with The Netherlands, the subsequent Presidency, and
the European Commission would like to make an urgent humanitarian appeal to spare
the life of Mr. Scott Panetti.
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 countries which have not yet abolished
the death penalty, this penalty should not be imposed on persons suffering from
a mental disorder. Mr. Panetti has a long history of severe mental illness from
before the crime. He has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, characterized
by hallucinations and delusions, and manic depression. Panetti was hospitalised,
both voluntarily and involuntarily, for mental illness fourteen times in six different
hospitals before his arrest for capital murder in 1992.
The EU strongly believes that the execution of persons suffering from a mental
disorder is contrary to widely accepted human rights norms and is 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 2003/67, 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, 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. Panetti relief from the death penalty.
Sincerely,
Noel Fahey
Ambassador of Ireland |
Wilhelmus J.P. Geerts
Deputy Head of Mission
The Netherlands
|
Günter
Burghardt
Ambassador, Head of Delegation, European Commission |
Letter
to Texas Governor.
Embassy of Ireland
2234 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 462-3939 Fax (202) 232-5993
Website: http://www.irelandemb.org/
