The Star/Asia News Network
Thursday, Nov 01, 2012
SUBANG JAYA, Malaysia - The people's view on the death penalty is changing, said the European Union ambassador and head of delegation to Malaysia Luc Vandebon.
"A simple indicator is that the number of death sentences far exceeds the number of executions.
"In 2010, a large number of death sentences were pardoned or commuted," he said, adding that despite the 114 death sentences meted out that year, there was only one execution.
He also said high-level personalities in the Government speaking out against the death penalty as well as the Attorney-General's Chambers studying the removal of the penalty for drug trafficking were positive developments.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz previously said the Government was looking at doing away with the death penalty, partly because of some 250 Malaysians caught as drug mules abroad were currently on death row.
"Removing the mandatory death sentence for drug trafficking is an important first step towards complete abolition.
"It wil make it possible to disprove the thesis that if you abolish the mandatory death penalty, the crime rate goes up," Vanderbon said when opening a pleadings competition at Taylor's University.
The abolition of the death penalty worldwide was one of the main objectives of the EU's human rights policy, using all its available tools of diplomacy and cooperation to work toward the abolition of the death sentence, he said.
"The ban on capital punishment is enshrined in the EU's founding treaty. Today, none of the 27 EU member state practices the death penalty," he said.
Thursday, Nov 01, 2012
SUBANG JAYA, Malaysia - The people's view on the death penalty is changing, said the European Union ambassador and head of delegation to Malaysia Luc Vandebon.
"A simple indicator is that the number of death sentences far exceeds the number of executions.
"In 2010, a large number of death sentences were pardoned or commuted," he said, adding that despite the 114 death sentences meted out that year, there was only one execution.
He also said high-level personalities in the Government speaking out against the death penalty as well as the Attorney-General's Chambers studying the removal of the penalty for drug trafficking were positive developments.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz previously said the Government was looking at doing away with the death penalty, partly because of some 250 Malaysians caught as drug mules abroad were currently on death row.
"Removing the mandatory death sentence for drug trafficking is an important first step towards complete abolition.
"It wil make it possible to disprove the thesis that if you abolish the mandatory death penalty, the crime rate goes up," Vanderbon said when opening a pleadings competition at Taylor's University.
The abolition of the death penalty worldwide was one of the main objectives of the EU's human rights policy, using all its available tools of diplomacy and cooperation to work toward the abolition of the death sentence, he said.
"The ban on capital punishment is enshrined in the EU's founding treaty. Today, none of the 27 EU member state practices the death penalty," he said.
