Italian cities against death penalty

Rome's Coliseum

Tuscany governor says still long way to go from 1786 abolition

Rome, November 30 - Cities around Italy and internationally will be illuminated on Monday as part of the Cities for Life initiative, organised by the Rome-based Community of Sant'Egidio for the International Day of Cities Against the Death Penalty.

The initiative has been observed every November 30 since 2002 to mark the anniversary of the first abolition of the death penalty on the part of a state, that of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany on November 30, 1786.

"Cesare Beccaria said in 1764 that the death penalty hasn't made us better. It isn't a solution, rather, it represents the failure of a community," said Ettore Rosato, MP and head of the Democratic Party (PD) in the Lower House, on his Facebook page, adding that Italy was the 1st to propose an international moratorium on the death penalty at the UN General Assembly in 1994, which was approved in 2007.

"Capital punishment is still legal in 94 countries in the world, but only practiced in 40," Rosato wrote.

"The side of countries renouncing (the death penalty) is growing day by day, thanks to the contribution of many associations and NGOs for human rights, and Italy is by their side".

In Tuscany, Governor Enrico Rossi presided over the yearly solemn session of the regional assembly marking the anniversary of the 1786 abolition of the death penalty by the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

"In the declaration of human rights there is the right to life but there's not an explicit ban on the death penalty," Rossi said.

"That means we still have a long way to go ahead of us if we consider that there are still states that commit veritable massacres every year".

Source: ANSA, November 30, 2015

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