KENYA VERSO ABOLIZIONE

NUOVO GOVERNO SPERA SIA POSSIBILE ENTRO GIUGNO

NAIROBI, 15 GEN - Il nuovo governo del Kenya punta al'abolizione della PENA DI MORTE, inflitta con grande frequenza nel paese mediante impiccaggione.

   E' quanto ha dichiarato il ministro della Giustizia Kiraitu Murungi, secondo il quale ''il diritto fondamentale alla vita va rispettato, e nessun potere umano puo' avere  l'autorita' di decidere la morte di un'altra persona: si tratta, comunque, di un atto barbaro''.

   Il ministro - le cui dichiarazioni sono riportate oggi dall'autorevole quotidiano Nation - ha detto di ritenere molto probabile che l'abolizione della pena di morte possa essere prevista dalla nuova costituzione del paese, che dovrebbe essere varata entro fine giugno.

   Murungi, gia' ministro della giustizia nel gabinetto ombra dell'opposizione, prima che questa vincesse le elezioni del 27 dicembre scorso, aveva presentato una proposta di legge a favore dell'abolizione della pena di morte nell'ottobre del '99, che era stata respinta dal Parlamento.

   Il ministro non si nasconde che una gran parte della popolazione keniana crede alla pena di morte come deterrente contro il dilagare della criminalita', ma ribadisce: ''Escludo che si tratti di un deterrente utile, e poi c'e' il problema morale''.  

Kenya Wants to Abolish Death Penalty

Kenya's new government wants to abolish the death penalty within the next 6 months, the justice minister said Monday.

More than 1,000 Kenyans who have been sentenced to death are locked up in Kenya's notoriously overcrowded maximum security prisons, but the penalty -- by hanging -- has not been carried out since 1984.

"We think the fundamental human right to life should be respected, and no human being should have the authority to take the life of another," Justice Minister Kiraitu Murungi told The Associated Press. "Capital punishment is a barbaric punishment."

 Wambui Kimathi of the Kenya Human Rights Commission said as of last September there were 1,270 Kenyans in prison who had been sentenced to death.

 "It should be abolished. We have been saying that no one should have the right to take someone else's life," she said.

 Murungi was appointed after President Mwai Kibaki led an alliance of opposition parties to a historic Dec. 27 election victory that ended the 39-rule of the Kenya African National Union party, or KANU. That party had governed Kenya since independence from Britain in 1963.

 During his time in the opposition, Murungi campaigned against the death penalty. He presented a bill in parliament to end the death penalty in October 1999, but it was defeated.

 Anyone convicted of committing murder or "armed robbery with violence" can be sentenced to death in Kenya. That has meant that a judge could sentence a chicken thief to death if he used violence in committing the theft. There are no jury trials in Kenya.

A commission to review Kenya's 1963 constitution was appointed in October 2000 to draft a new charter for the East African nation. A provision abolishing the death penalty is in the document.

 Murungi said capital punishment had neither been abolished nor implemented by the previous government because ministers were divided.

 That government "was not able to take a final decision on this issue although they also felt it was morally not right," he said. "They were not able to pick up the courage to abolish it."

 But he also acknowledged that in Kenya, where crime has spiked in recent years, some Kenyans still support the death penalty.

 Lynchings of criminals have increased as Kenyans have become increasingly frustrated with the failure of police and the judiciary to deal with crime.

 "Because of the bad robberies and high rate of murder, some Kenyans support the death penalty. But I think it's misinformation not based on any scientific evidence that it (the death penalty) acts as a deterrent," he said.

 On Saturday, George Ryan, outgoing governor of Illinois, commuted the sentences of 167 condemned inmates. Murungi welcomed the decision.

 "We are surprised that any country with such a civilized legal system like the United States still maintains this penalty in its statute books," he said.