WASHINGTON, 4 SET - Un militante anti-abortista americano, Paul Hill, condannato a morte per avere assassinato un medico che praticava interruzioni volontarie di gravidanza (Ivg), e' stato ucciso con una iniezione letale nel carcere di Starke, in Florida.

L'esecuzione si e' svolta, come previsto, poco dopo le 18 di ieri ora locale (la mezzanotte in Italia).

Paul Hill aveva 49 anni e non ha chiesto la grazia per l' assassinio nel 1994 di John Britton, il medico per gli aborti, e di James Barrett, la sua guardia del corpo, fuori dall'ambulatorio dove Britton lavorava.

La sua esecuzione e' stata la prima negli Stati Uniti di un killer contro l'aborto e secondo molti rischia di provocare non solo polemiche, ma anche ulteriori violenze nei confronti dei centri e dei medici che assistono le donne nell'Ivg.

Nei giorni scorsi parecchie persone in Florida coinvolte nel caso avevano ricevuto lettere anonime di minacce accompagnate dal sinistro messaggio di una pallottola di fucile.

WASHINGTON, 4 SET - Paul Hill - padre di tre figli, ex pastore presbiteriano - e' morto senza rimpianti: ogni volta che pensava alla sua esecuzione vedeva gli angeli che si

preparavano ad accoglierlo.

''La nostra responsabilita' e' di proteggere la vita del prossimo e di usare la forza se e' necessario'', spiegava per esempio in una dichiarazione sul sito Internet a lui dedicato, aggiungendo: ''In uno sforzo di sopprimere la verita', potrete mischiare il mio sangue a quella del bambino non-nato''.

Per i suoi sostenitori, Hill e' destinato a diventare un martire per una causa giustificata dalla Bibbia. Per altri, su entrambe le barricate del dibattito sull'aborto, e' uno zelota che non merita pieta'.

Per la grazia a Hill si erano mobilitate le associazioni contro la pena capitale che hanno scritto al governatore Jeb Bush: ''La pena di morte da' a quest'individuo l'opportunita' di diventare un martire: anziche' essere deterrente contro la violenza rischia di incoraggiare altra violenza'', aveva spiegato per esempio Diana Rust Tierney, direttore del Capital Punishment Project.

Bush non si e' fatto smuovere: ''Ne' minacce ne' consigli cambieranno il mio dovere di fare quel che penso sia giusto'', aveva detto qualche giorno prima dell'esecuzione il governatore della Florida, fratello del presidente George W. Il condannato a morte ha trascorso le ultime ore prima dell' esecuzione in compagnia della moglie, di uno dei figli e dei genitori. E' stato dichiarato morto alle 18:08 di ieri (le 00:08 ora italiana).

Hill uccise Britton e Barrett in un momento in cui la violenza degli anti-abortisti era arrivata al culmine: due medici per gli aborti erano stati assassinati a Pensacola in Florida nel 1993, mentre l'anno dopo due donne erano state uccise in una clinica per gli aborti di Boston da John Salvi, un anti-abortista che successivamente si era suicidato in carcere.

Miami Herald

FLORIDA: Murderer of abortion doctor executed

 Paul Hill, the defiant former minister who called himself pro-life yet gunned down a Pensacola abortion doctor, was put to death peacefully by lethal injection Wednesday evening.

Hill spoke for about 30 seconds before Florida State Prison Warden Joe Thompson nodded to the anonymous executioner to begin the flow of deadly drugs.

"I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for saving me from my sins and enabling me to persevere. I thank the Lord for my loving parents, my loving sisters. I also thank the Lord for giving me an excellent wife and 3 wonderful children," Hill said. "2 of the last things I'd like to say, if you believe abortion is a lethal force, you should oppose the force and do what you have to do to stop it. May God help you to protect the unborn as you would want to be protected." Hill, 49, became the 1st killer of an abortion doctor to be executed in the United States, and his death reignited fears that the near-dormant militant wing of the extreme anti-abortion movement would use him as a catalyst for renewed violence.

2 weeks ago, death threat letters were sent to top state officials involved with the execution, but a resolute Gov. Jeb Bush, who signed Hill's death warrant, said he "would not be bullied" and refused to halt the execution.

Still, fears that Hill's death would inspire an attempt to disrupt the execution led state officials to lay out the tightest security since serial killer Ted Bundy was electrocuted in 1989.

Hill, who showed no remorse to the end, claimed he was following God's orders when he kept firing his shotgun at Dr. John Britton until the 69-year-old physician stopped moving in the driveway of the Ladies Center, a Pensacola abortion clinic, on July 29, 1994. Hill also killed Britton's escort, Jim Barrett, 69. Barrett's wife, June, was injured.

Tuesday, Hill told reporters at a Florida State Prison that he's certain he will be rewarded in Heaven for his action.

Across the road from the Florida State Prison death house, anti-abortion activists prayed and protested in a muddy field under rainy skies and under the watchful eye of scores of police. Fearful that extremists might act out, more than 100 law enforcement officers stood at the ready to squelch and attempts to stop the execution.

Across the nation, clinic owners braced for retaliation by anti-abortion extremists who may see Hill as a martyr.

"We have received threats... and we have increased security," said Susan Hill, owner of 6 abortion clinics in the U.S. and a well-known advocate of abortion rights. "We are just desperately hoping the violence is not going to start again."

More moderate anti-abortion activists say Hill's violence has set back the movement.

"Pro-life people do not kill in the name of life," said Lynda Bell of Miami, spokeswoman for Florida Right-To-Life. "The work we are doing is harmed by the actions of people like Paul Hill. It hurts the cause, it hurts the babies, it hurts the issue."

Hill was a "volunteer" for the death chamber -- meaning he dropped all appeals, whicj likely would have prolonged his stay on Florida's Death For for years.

Abe Bonowitz, director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said Hill was the 6th volunteer to be executed since Jeb Bush became governor.

Attorney Michael Hirsh of Georgia filed an appeal with the Florida Supreme Court last week saying that Hill could not be executed because he first had to serve 2 life sentences imposed by a federal court for the shootings. Hill was convicted of violating federal laws in the killings as well.

But the high court rejected the appeal, saying Hill had not given Hirsh permission to represent him.

The execution went off under the tightest security at a Florida execution since serial killer Ted Bundy was put to death in 1989, said Robert Milner, sheriff of this rural North Florida county. More than 100 police from a half dozen state and local agencies were poised to react in case anyone tried to stop or delay the execution.

Hill, who grew up in Coral Gables, and served at churches Palm Beach County and Pensacola, died from a poisonous combination of 3 chemicals that put him in a deep coma then shut down his heart and other organs.

Hill's body was to be taken to the medical examiner's office in Gainesville for an autopsy, most likely to be performed on Thursday. The body will then be released to Hill's wife, Karen, said Sterling Ivey, spokesman for the state Department of Corrections.

Hill spent his last hours visiting with his wife, his 18-year-old son, Justin, his parents and 2 sisters. Prison officials said he woke up at 4:45 a.m. and started reading his Bible.

Hill said his last words to his 2 daughters, Gloria and Joy, during a visit on Tuesday.

The family had until noon today to say their final good-byes and Hill met in the afternoon with his spiritual adviser, Donald Spitz, a Pentecostal minister from Virginia.

None of the victims' family members asked to attend the execution, somewhat rare in recent times when at least 1 representative of a victim's family has been present.

Members of the condemned man's family are not allowed to attend, Ivey said, for fear they might try to disrupt the execution.

Florida Executes Killer of an Abortion Provider

 9 years after he calmly shot and killed an abortion doctor and his volunteer escort outside a Pensacola clinic, Paul Jennings Hill died by lethal injection here Wednesday as his supporters declared him a martyr and warned that his actions might be replicated.

Mr. Hill, a former Presbyterian minister, is the 1st killer of an abortion provider to be executed in the United States. He had not tried to prevent his death, which took place at Florida State Prison, just after 6 p.m. as lightning jagged across a nearly black sky. But abortion rights advocates fear what Mr. Hill's followers have hinted for months: that his death will cause a new wave of violence against abortion clinics, many of which have operated in relative peace over the last few years.

Addressing reporters in a final interview here on Tuesday, Mr. Hill made the same prediction.

"I believe in the short and long term, more and more people will act on the principles for which I stand," he said. Mr. Hill also said that while it was not his choice to die, "I'm willing and I feel very honored that they are most likely going to kill me for what I did."

Last month, State Attorney General Charlie Crist and 2 top prison officials received death threats in letters that contained bullets. Dozens of police officers surrounded the prison here today, and prison officials said it was the tightest security at a Florida execution since Ted Bundy was put to death here in 1989.

As the hour of the execution approached, protesters gathered in a field across from the prison in 3 areas: 1 for Hill supporters, 1 for Hill opponents and the 3rd for those against the death penalty.

Most of the roughly 50 supporters of Mr. Hill were white men, some kneeling and praying, others singing "How Great Thou Art." Abortion rights advocates had said they planned to attend the execution and press their cause, but there was not a single person representing that movement. 3 protesters said they were there to condemn Mr. Hill's violent act. About 20 others came to oppose the death penalty.

Dan Holman, who said he drove here from Keokuk, Iowa, said Mr. Hill had "raised the standard" for anti-abortion protesters.

"Some day, I hope I will have the courage to be as much as a man as he was," said Mr. Holman, who carried a sign that said: "Dead Doctors Can't Kill."

Other signs read, "Killing Baby Killers Is Justifiable Homicide," and "Extremism in Defense of Life Is Not Extreme."

Even before his crimes, Mr. Hill was known for advocating violence against abortion providers, and his extreme views had won him a high profile. With a serene voice and smile, he became a spokesman for the cause after another doctor, David Gunn, was shot to death by Michael Griffin at Pensacola's other abortion clinic in 1993.

Mr. Griffin is serving a life sentence. In the interview on Tuesday, Mr. Hill said that Mr. Griffin's action had inspired him to kill Dr. John Bayard Britton, who had replaced Dr. Gunn at the clinic.

In the months following Dr. Gunn's murder, Mr. Hill appeared on television shows like "Nightline" and "Donahue," where he drew parallels between killing an abortion doctor and killing Hitler. Mr. Hill insisted that murdering abortion providers was "justifiable homicide," a defense he attempted to use in his trial but that the judge would not allow.

Dr. Britton had just arrived at the Pensacola Ladies Center in the early morning of July 29, 1994, when Mr. Hill approached and began firing with a 12-gauge shotgun that he had bought days earlier. Mr. Hill, who had left the ministry and was painting cars for a living, had frequently distributed leaflets at the clinic and sometimes screamed, "Mommy, don't kill me!" outside its windows.

In an interview with The New York Times in 1995, Mr. Hill said he was nervous but resolved as he aimed his gun that morning.

"It was an act of will not to begin to think why I shouldn't be doing what I was doing," he said in the interview, "but I knew - I mean, the thing that kept me going through it was that I knew that if that man got into that abortion clinic, he would kill 25 to 30 people. And I'd determined that he had done that for the last time. He wasn't going to make it in."

Mr. Hill first shot and killed James H. Barrett, a 74-year-old retired Air Force lieutenant who had driven Dr. Britton, 69, to the clinic. He then turned his gun on Dr. Britton, shooting him in the head and injuring Mr. Barrett's wife, June. Mrs. Barrett, 68, had been crouching on the floor of their pick-up truck.

Dr. Britton, who lived near Jacksonville in northeastern Florida and flew to Pensacola once a week to perform abortions, had been wearing a bulletproof vest. Mr. Hill later said that he suspected Dr. Britton wore such a vest and said he had deliberately aimed at the victim's head.

Pensacola, a conservative city at the western tip of Florida's panhandle, had long been a center for radical anti-abortion groups. But in recent years, the movement has quieted there: only a few people protest outside the city's 2 abortion clinics these days, and the protesters sometimes lunch with clinic escorts at a nearby restaurant, The Orlando Sentinel reported last week.

Seven abortion providers and other employees of abortion clinics have been killed in the United States and Canada in the last decade, according to the National Abortion Federation, an abortion-rights group in Washington. The latest was Dr. Barnett A. Slepian, who was shot to death in his kitchen in Amherst, N.Y., in 1998.

The debate over abortion in Florida will likely intensify in the coming months. Republican lawmakers are trying to rouse support for a public referendum on requiring parental notification for minors seeking abortions. And Gov. Jeb Bush went to court last month to argue that the fetus of a retarded rape victim deserved its own guardian, which abortion-rights groups saw as a threat to Roe v. Wade.

Sterling Ivey, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Corrections, told reporters this evening that Mr. Hill was pronounced dead at 6:08 before 24 witnesses. Just before receiving his injection, Mr. Hill said: "If you believe abortion is an evil force, you should oppose the force and do what you have to, to stop it."

Mr. Hill's final statement was preceded by claps of thunder that were audible in the death chamber, Mr. Ivey said.

In the field across the highway, some of Mr. Hill's supporters knelt and shouted "Speak Your Wrath, Lord!" as inky clouds surrounded the prison and thunder boomed. At 6 o'clock sharp, the group released yellow balloons into the sky and a few men sobbed. The rain started then, and did not let up for hours.