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Communist Vietnam's secret death penalty conveyor belt: How country trails only China and Iran for 'astonishing' number of executions

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Prisoners are dragged from their cells at 4am without warning to be given a lethal injection Vietnam's use of the death penalty has been thrust into the spotlight after a real estate tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to be executed in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country's history. Truong My Lan, a businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022.

Ohio death row inmate asks for death penalty to be declared unconstitutional

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Gary Otte
The Ohio Supreme Court has rejected the request of a condemned killer to delay next week's execution while he pursues an appeal.

Death row inmate Gary Otte wants the death penalty declared unconstitutional in his case because he was under 21 at the time of the crime.

The court denied Otte's request for a delay Thursday.

Otte was sentenced to die for the Feb. 12, 1992, killing of Robert Wasikowski and the Feb. 13, 1992, killing of Sharon Kostura.

Both slayings took place in Parma in suburban Cleveland.

Gov. John Kasich has rejected a request for clemency made by Otte's attorneys.

The 45-year-old Otte is scheduled to die Sept. 13. He is also challenging Ohio's lethal injection method in federal court.

Source: Associated Press, Sept 9, 2017


Urgent Action


CALL ON OHIO GOVERNOR TO RETHINK CLEMENCY

Gary Otte is scheduled to be executed in Ohio on 13 September. He was sentenced to death in October 1992 for 2 murders committed 8 months earlier. 20 years old when he was sent to death row, he is now 45. The governor has rejected clemency.

Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:

* Urging Governor Kashich to reconsider his decision to deny clemency for Gary Otte;

* Explaining that you are not seeking to downplay the seriousness of violent crime or its consequences

Friendly reminder: If you send an email, please create your own instead of forwarding this one!

Contact below official by 13 September, 2017:

Governor John Kasich
Riffe Center, 30th Floor
77 South High Street
Columbus, OH 43215-6117, USA
Fax: +1 614 466 9354
Email (via website): http://www.governor.ohio.gov/Contact/ContacttheGovernor.aspx
Twitter: @JohnKasich

Salutation: Dear Governor

Source: Amnesty International USA, September 9, 2017


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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
Location: Ohio, USA
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