Posted on 01/04/2006 10:06:27 AM PST by Former Military Chick
“The death penalty is a brutal and vindictive travesty of justice” said Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, in a statement issued today.
“Following the Christmas break, executions in the United States are expected to resume on 17 January 2006, when Clarence Ray Allen is scheduled to be put to death in the state of California. He is 75 years old. Mr Allen is not an innocent man. He was found guilty of a particularly gruesome crime, but in executing him at his advanced age and decades after the crime had been committed, the authorities are coming close to win the contest in cruelty and vengeance.
The death penalty is aberrant and inhuman in all circumstances, but even more so when it is applied in the cases of children, elderly or mentally ill people. In all member states of the Council of Europe, the death penalty was abolished because it is futile and wrong. The death penalty is not justice. It is a pathetic attempt to satisfy a primitive craving for spectacle and revenge. I therefore call on the Governor of California to spare the life of Clarence Ray Allen and on the US authorities to join virtually all other civilised and democratic countries in the world and abolish the death penalty once and for all. This is not just about the life or death of an old man - what is at stake is the respect for human dignity in American society as a whole” Terry Davis said.
The Council of Europe is the oldest European political organisation, established in 1949 to promote democracy and protect human rights and the rule of law in Europe. It has 46 member states. Abolition of the death penalty is a legal obligation on the basis of Protocol 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The United States of America, together with Japan, are the only observer states to the Council of Europe to continue executing people.
Press Contact Council of Europe Press Division Tel. +33 3 88 41 25 60 - Fax. +33 3 88 41 39 11 E-mail: PressUnit@coe.int
Better yet ask them about Germany releasing that Mohammed Ali Hamadi,where was their outrage over the parole of this convicted terrorist who murdered U.S. Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem?
I would invite Mr. Davis to go have "aerial intercourse with a motivated pastry".
Well damn, listen up people, the council has spoken, Clarence lives, someone get Aaaaarnold on the phone.
Uh, why are the Europeans interested in Clarence Ray Allen all of the sudden? Who is he to them? Was Tookie anything to them?
Well I'll give them props for admitting he is guilty and at least taking a principled stand. Unlike Mike Farrel and the loonie left in the U.S. who will claim he is or might be innocent and, even if he did it, his victim probably had it coming anyway.
So let me get this straight...
We shouldn't execute him because we spent too much time giving him the chance to appeal the sentence? Well, Mr. Davis, if it makes you feel any better, I'm up for changing the schedule to one such as shooting them behind the courthouse right after their conviction. Would that make you happy?
I'm too lazy so could someone in Europe please look up where in the US Constitution it says they have a say.
"He was found guilty of a particularly gruesome crime, but in executing him at his advanced age and decades after the crime had been committed, the authorities are coming close to win the contest in cruelty and vengeance."
It is very sad that it takes so long to execute people who commit horric murders... if the secretary general wanted to be truly helpful he would urge the Senate to confirm judges faster to cut down the backlog and execute justice faster.
PING
The Council of Europe, They're in the Bible, I believe.
Have any of these clowns ever uttered so much as a peep of protest at the televised spectacles of the Islamofascists beheading innocent people? Have they ever spoken out against the barbarians who strap explosives to their children and send them to blow up scores of Israeli civilians? Until they do, it's a little difficult to put much stock in their whining about the "brutal and vindicative travesty of justice" that results in the execution of a duly tried and convicted murderer after decades of appeals and due process.
"Give the man due process."
"Okay we gave him due process."
"You took too long. Let him go."
"..the authorities are coming close to win the contest in cruelty and vengeance.."
REALLY Mr Davis???
At least WE never hanged, drew and quartered people, lashed anyone around the fleet, used torture chambers, or crucified anyone.
Not that I think some of our present day felons don't deserve such treatment.
Mr. Davis has no concept of the meaning of Justice. Justice means equal measure. Somebody who willfully takes the life another for no valid reason should forfeit his own. That's Justice.
But we can't expect a Euroweenie to understand that can we?
Fine. They don't like executions. Ok. Then we aren't "executing" this piece of human debris. We're "euthanizing" him. There. All better?
"Uh, why are the Europeans interested in Clarence Ray Allen all of the sudden? Who is he to them? Was Tookie anything to them?"
Good question. A guy in his 70's was executed in MS a few days after Tookie. Never heard a word spoke on his behalf.
don't you mean "non-stationary pastry"?
This is the most uneducated, inarticulate argument against the death penalty I've read since Ninth Grade debate class. Perhaps the good Secretary General is more eloquent in his native language, but these "arguments" wouldn't convince me to spare a bait worm.
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