EU Policy On The Death Penalty

EUROPEAN UNION DEATH PENALTY DEMARCHE ON BEHALF OF
LARRY KEITH ROBINSON

Press Release

Embassy of Portugal, Washington, DC

January 19, 2000

As the representative of the Presidency of the European Union, Portugal together with France and the European Commission wishes to convey an urgent humanitarian appeal by the EU on behalf of Mr. Larry Keith Robison.

The execution of Mr. Robison, a U.S. citizen, is scheduled to be carried out on January 21, 2000. Mr. Robison suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, as diagnosed some years before the crimes he committed and for which he was convicted. As mentally ill, Mr. Robison is deprived of the knowledge that his actions are in breach of law, and of the ability to conform his conduct to the requirements of law. Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – to which the United Nations is a party – provides that the death sentence may be imposed only for the most serious crimes. The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), in the Safeguards stated that the scope of these crimes should not go beyond intentional crimes with lethal or other extremely grave consequences. The EU considers that the execution of Mr. Robison, following the sentence to death for actions committed, as matter of fact, as a result of his insanity, would be contrary to generally accepted human rights norms.

Moreover, 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 recommends that the United Nations Member States eliminate the death penalty for persons suffering from mental retardation or extremely limited mental competence, whether at the stage of sentence or execution.

On April 28, 1999, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (CHR) adopted a resolution, brought into CHR by the EU, on the death penalty. The resolution – among others – urges all States to comply fully with their obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to ensure that the notion of “most serious crimes” does not go beyond intentional crimes with lethal or extremely grave consequences, and also to observe the ECOSOC Safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty. Furthermore, this resolution urges all States not to impose the death penalty on a person suffering from any form of mental disorder or to execute any such person.

The European Union respectfully urges the United States authorities to commute Mr. Robinson sentence to life imprisonment, or such other penalty compatible with International law.