Arnie ‘should be stripped of Austrian citizenship’

A SENIOR Austrian politician has called for Arnold Schwarzenegger to be stripped of citizenship in his native Austria for approving the execution of a convicted killer.

The demand, by a top official from the Green Party, had little chance for success, but it underscores how Mr Schwarzenegger has lost popularity in his homeland over his support for the death penalty. Most Austrians and many other Europeans abhor capital punishment as cruel and inhumane.

Peter Pilz said Mr Schwarzenegger broke the law in Austria where capital punishment is illegal and is no longer worthy of citizenship because he allowed the execution of Donald Beardslee's execution to go ahead last week.

Mr Pilz told Austrian media he sent the Interior Ministry a letter formally requesting that the government begin the process of terminating Schwarzenegger's citizenship.

Calls to the Interior Ministry seeking comment went unanswered.

Beardslee, 61, convicted of killing two women over a drug deal became the first inmate put to death by California in three years when given a lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison.