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Indonesia | 14 years on death row: Timeline of Mary Jane Veloso’s ordeal and fight for justice

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MANILA, Philippines — The case of Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina on death row in Indonesia for drug trafficking, has spanned over a decade and remains one of the most high-profile legal battles involving an overseas Filipino worker. Veloso was arrested on April 25, 2010, at Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, after she was found in possession of more than 2.6 kilograms of heroin. She was sentenced to death in October – just six months after her arrest. Indonesia’s Supreme Court upheld the penalty in May 2011.

Kazakhstan towards definitive abolition

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March 28, 2011: Kazakhstan took another step towards the abolition of the death penalty. The Presidential Commission for Human Rights in Astana asked the government to abolish capital punishment, press agency Interfax reported.

Commission head Tastemir Abishev, in announcing the request for abolition, reminded that Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbaiev imposed an unlimited moratorium on the death penalty from 2003 onwards and that Astana is an active member of the International Commission for the Abolition of the Death Penalty.

Since 2007, after a constititional modification, the death penalty in Kazakistan is only allowed for those who commit terrorist attacks that cause death and for serious war crimes.

Source: TMNews, March 28, 2011
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