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After acquittal of ex-death row inmate, debate needed on Japan's death penalty

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Japan should be ensuring the safety of its citizens, but instead it is taking people's lives. Is it acceptable to maintain the ultimate penalty under such circumstances? This is a serious question for society. The acquittal of 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada, who had been handed the death penalty, has been finalized after prosecutors decided not to appeal the verdict issued by the Shizuoka District Court during his retrial.

EU calls on Belarus to abolish death penalty

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After another death was recorded in Belarus, this time of Viktar Skrundzik, who was sentenced to death by the Minsk Regional Court, the EU reiterated its opposition to the country’s practice and called on Belarus to declare a moratorium on capital punishment.

According to a statement issued by the European External Action Service (EEAS), the death penalty “violates the right to life, which is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” and Belarus should “commute the remaining death sentences”.

The Union has repeatedly called for the abolition of capital punishment in Belarus, the only country in the European territory that still carries out executions and refuses to abide by international law.

“The death penalty … is the highest cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. The death verdicts cannot serve as a deterrent to crime. Justice errors are irreversible,” said the EU in a statement on January.

Source: neweurope.eu, Staff, March 11, 2020


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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: Belarus
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