Europe to hold Day Against Death Penalty

EUROPE is to have an annual Day Against the Death Penalty, despite attempts by Poland to prevent it.

The Poles blocked the European Union from naming October 10 as the annual day against capital punishment. The practice is banned under EU rules.

However, they were forced into silence yesterday at the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe which represents 47 countries.

A heated debate between representatives from the member countries resulted in a vote, something that is rarely necessary in the body that tries to reach agreement between all members.

“Eventually, when the vote was called, Poland remained silent and abstained from voting,” said a source.

As a result the Council, responsible for the European Convention on Human Rights, will commemorate the first such day on Wednesday week.

A statement from the body said they hoped the EU would join the initiative as soon as possible. They will jointly attend an international conference against the death penalty organised by the Portuguese presidency in Lisbon on October 9.

One Polish government party, the League of Polish Families, wants the death penalty for paedophiles who kill their victims, while Polish president Lech Kaczynski last year called on EU member states to reintroduce the death penalty.

When arguing recently against a Day against Capital Punishment, Polish deputy justice minister Andrzej Duda said it should include abortion and euthanasia and be called instead Right to Life day.

This week the European Court of Human Rights ordered the Polish state to pay compensation to a mother-of-three denied an abortion despite three doctors saying she would go blind if she went ahead with her third pregnancy. Polish law allows abortion if it endangers the mother’s health, but no doctor would sign a certificate to authorise it. She is now almost blind, unable to see anything more than 1.5 metres away.