Mario Marazziti of the Community of Sant'Egidio speaks out against death penalty for juveniles

ROME (CNS) -- The United States was not the main target of anti-death penalty protesters at the U.N. Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva, but the fact that minors can be executed in some states did not go unmentioned. Mario Marazziti, spokesman for the Rome-based Sant'Egidio Community, said, "The fact that the execution of minors or of the mentally disabled is considered legitimate in the United States leaves this great democratic country in the company of countries like Iraq and Somalia." With the Sant'Egidio Community actively involved in an international campaign to ban the death penalty, Marazziti participated in the April meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission. Sant'Egidio is a Catholic group that runs soup kitchens and other social service programs in Rome and has been involved in mediating political disputes in Africa and Eastern Europe.