UN urges reprieve for Mexican death row inmate held in Texas

 Philippe LeBlanc (Canada), Permanent Delegate

 of the Dominican Order at the UN

 Geneva, August 9, 2002

 Mr. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro (Brazil), on behalf of the UN Sub-Commission on  the  Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, urged the US authorities for a  reprieve of the death sentence of Mr. Javier Suarez Medina, a Mexican  citizen  scheduled for death by lethal injection on August 14, 2002. In a formal  statement of the UN Sub-Commission, Mr. Pinheiro requested US authorities to  re-examine his case in guaranteeing his right to benefit from consular  assistance and his rights to a fair trial, following an intervention by two  international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Dominicans for Justice  and Peace  and Franciscans International to the UN Sub-Commission. Mr. Pinheiro who serves as Chair of the UN Sub-Commission is also the Secretary  of State for Human Rights for Brazil.

  As the UN Sub-Commission pointed out, the US authorities did not comply with  their obligations pursuant to Article 36 of the 1963 Vienna Convention on  Consular Relations which guarantee consular assistance for foreign  detainees.

 In short, Mr. Suarez was not notified by US authorities of his right,  recognized under international law, to consular assistance from the Mexican  Government. Moreover, the UN Sub-Commission strongly recalled the 1999  advisory opinion of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights regarding this  particular case, as well as the 2001 judgment of the International Court of  Justice LaGrand (Germany vs. United States of America).

  Mr. Suarez�s death sentence, issued at the age of 19, was based upon  unadjudicated offenses or crimes he was not proven to have committed.

 Although he was indeed proven to have murdered a man, though under  circumstances not punishable by death under Texas law, the prosecution used  unsubstantiated evidence irrelevant to the trial to secure a death sentence.

 The use of such evidence is not only inadmissible in numerous US states  (such  as Alabama, Florida and Maryland), but violates the international  obligations  of the US Government to respect fundamental human rights standards which it  has ratified and pledged to uphold, including those enshrined in the  American  Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man and the International Covenant  on  Civil and Political Rights.

The UN Sub-Commission statement was adopted following an oral presentation  on  the death penalty given by the Permanent Delegate of the Dominican Order at  the UN. In his presentation, he recommended that the UN Sub-Commission on  the  Promotion and Protection of Human Rights examine the case of Javier Suarez  Medina for possible action on his behalf before his execution on August 14,  2002.

 Dominicans for Justice and Peace and Franciscans International strongly  urged  the US authorities, namely Governor Rick Perry of Texas, to reprieve the  death sentence of Mr. Suarez and review the case once more, in light of the clear violation of the defendants rights to receive consular assistance and  a  fair trial. We further deplore the use of capital punishment by any country,  without exception, and works for its abolition worldwide