EU Policy On The Death Penalty

February 14, 2002

Hon. Walter S. Ray
Chairman of the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles
Floyd Veterans Memorial Building
Balcony level, East Tower
2 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., S.E.
Atlanta, Georgia 30334-4909

 

Dear Mr. Chairman:

Following up on the letter sent to you on August 21, 2000 under the French Presidency, Spain as current president, together with Denmark, the subsequent president, and the European Commission, would like to convey, on behalf of the European Union, to you and all the members of the Board of Pardons and Paroles of Georgia, an urgent humanitarian appeal to spare the life of Alexander Williams who has been sentenced to death and is scheduled to be executed on February 20, 2002.

As stated in the EU Memorandum on the Death Penalty (http://www.eurunion.org/legislat/DeathPenalty/eumemorandum.htm) which has been shared with you, 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 August 21st which lead the European Union to believe that in the case of Mr. Williams several elements contradict the minimum standards set forth in several international instruments. The following factors are of special concern:

1) Mr. Williams was 17 years old at the time the crime was committed. The European Union believes that in those countries which have not yet abolished the death penalty, it should not be imposed on persons who were less than 18 years of age at the time of the crime. This approach to juvenile justice is consistent with the spirit and letter of several international human rights instruments which expressly prohibit the execution of juveniles, specifically the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the American Convention on Human Rights. Article 6 of the ICCPR--to which the United States is a party--expressly forbids the execution of people whose crime was committed when they were under 18 years of age. The EU considers that this would be contrary to generally accepted human rights norms.

2) Mr. Williams suffers from a serious mental illness (paranoid schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder with bipolar features). The European Union is gravely concerned about the imposition of capital punishment on persons suffering from any form of mental disorder and considers that executions under these circumstances are a degradation to human dignity and worth as well as contrary to international human rights instruments such as the United Nations Economic and Social Council 1984/50 resolution on the safeguards for the protection of persons facing the death penalty and resolution 2001/68 adopted at the last session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which specifically urges all states that still maintain 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 members of the Board of Pardons and Paroles of Georgia, to take all the aforementioned factors into account and to exercise all powers vested in your office to commute Mr. William's sentence to any penalty other than capital punishment, in accordance with international law.

Letter to Governor Barnes.

Amicus Curiae Brief.

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Embassy of Spain
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Washington, DC 20037
Telephone: 202-452-0100
Website: http://www.spainemb.org/ingles/indexing.htm