Switzerland
bans death penalty
As
of this week the death penalty is to be officially banned in Switzerland
and other European countries, even in wartime.
On
Tuesday, Protocol No.13 to the European Convention on Human Rights
concerning the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances comes
into force.
Arthur
Mattli of the Swiss foreign ministry told swissinfo that it was important
for Europe to officially abolish the death penalty for good. Up until now
the ban did not apply in times of war.
�This
move sets a good example for the development of international law in other
continents,� he said.
The
human rights organisation, Amnesty International, which has been
campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty for more than 20 years,
described the ratification of Protocol No.13 as a symbolic gesture.
�This
is the 1st international treaty that abolishes the death penalty
completely � without exceptions. Up until now the ban did not apply to
war times,� spokesman J�rg Keller told swissinfo.
Complete
abolition
Protocol
No.13 is a follow-up to Protocol No.6, which was signed in Strasbourg on
April 28, 1983, and did not exclude death penalty in times of war or
imminent threat of war.
Switzerland
was one of the 1st countries to ratify Protocol No.13 in May last year,
which, according to a foreign ministry statement, �reflected its
permanent commitment to the abolition of the death penalty�.
Capital
punishment in times of peace was banned in Switzerland in 1942 and the
last civil execution took place in 1940, when the serial killer Hans
Vollenweider died by guillotine.
During
the Second World War, 17 soldiers accused of treason were shot dead under
the death penalty law.
The
Swiss film-makers Richard Dindo and Niklaus Meienberg recaptured the
killings in their documentary, �The Execution of the Traitor Ernst
S.�, which was released in 1976.
In
Switzerland, the death penalty was removed from military penal law in
1992. However, it has not existed in any form for more than 60 years and
is officially banned in the new Federal Constitution of April 18, 1999.
Reintroducing
death penalty
In
the past few years, political hardliners have repeatedly called for the
death penalty to be brought back in Switzerland for serious crimes.
In
the early nineties the far-right Freedom Party repeatedly campaigned to
re-introduce capital punishment, arguing that it was the only way to crack
down on drug dealers.
However,
Amnesty International�s J�rg Keller doubts whether capital punishment
could ever be re-introduced in Switzerland.
�The
death penalty is explicitly forbidden in our constitution,� he said.
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