Statement by Marco Cappato, Radical MEP
The World Congress Against Death Penalty - in its 3-day Paris assembly which we attended as Hands Off Cain and Nonviolent Radial Party with Marco Pannella, Elisabetta Zamparutti, Marco Perduca, Antonio Stango and Max Rizzo - will end with a demonstration in Place de la Bastille.
For the first time in the history of the abolitionist movement, the final declaration of the Congress acknowledges unanimously the importance of the adoption a universal moratorium at the UN.
In fact, after having repeatedly requested all countries to abolish death penalty and to halt all executions, the Congress, "recognizing the great value that a successful Resolution adopted by the General Assembly would have for the abolition of the death penalty worldwide, we invite the members states of the UN to take all necessary actions to ensure the adoption, by the General Assembly, of a Resolution calling for an immediate and universal moratorium on death sentences and executions and the commutation of existing death sentences, with a view to the universal abolition of the death penalty."
This positive and important result, achieved together with France and President Chirac, strengthens the ongoing initiative of the Italian Government at the United Nations.
Paris, 3 February 2007