The FINNCIAL — On Friday a judge in Arkansas (United States) blocked all executions in that state until the 2013 law on execution procedures had been clarified, according to the Parliamentary Assembly.
The law merely requires prison authorities to use a barbiturate when conducting executions, without specifying which one, and fails to indicate what type of training must be given to staff who administer the injections. Arkansas currently has 298 prisoners on death row.
Marietta Karamanli (France, SOC), General Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), welcomed this judicial decision:
"The scandal of the prolonged suffering inflicted on Dennis McGuire in Ohio, on 16 January 2014, has heightened awareness throughout the United States of the unbearable cruelty of the death penalty. I congratulate Judge Wendell Griffin on his decision and hope that it will also set a precedent elsewhere."
The Council of Europe supports universal abolition of the death penalty. No executions take place in Europe, stated Ms Karamanli, with the sole and sad exception of Belarus.
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