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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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Kazakhstan abolishes death penalty

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Kazakhstan abolishes death penalty
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.24 -- Kazakhstan has joined the international document to abolish the death penalty, Trend reports with reference to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Kazakhstan's Permanent Representative to the UN Kairat Umarov signed the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which oversees the abolishment of the death penalty.

Kazakhstan’s decision to join the international protocol was announced by Kazakh President Kassym Jomart Tokayev during his speech at the General Debate of the 75th session of the UNGA. 

Tokayev noted that the decision to join the protocol was with the goal to fulfill a fundamental right to life and human dignity.

The use of the death penalty in Kazakhstan was completely suspended by the Decree of the President of Kazakhstan on the introduction of a corresponding moratorium in 2003.

Source: trend.az, Nargiz Sadikhova, September 24, 2020

Council of Europe welcomes Kazakhstan’s decision to abolish death penalty


YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. The Council of Europe approved Kazakhstan’s decision to join the countries which abolished the death penalty, Communications Director at the Council of Europe, Spokesperson of the Secretary General, Daniel Holtgen, said on Twitter.

“We welcome the decision by Kazakhstan to abolish the death penalty. This expands the death penalty-free family of nations that believe that death is not justice”, Daniel Holtgen said.

Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the UN Kairat Umarov signed on September 24 the second protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights at the UN headquarters.

Kazakhstan has not executed the death penalty since 2003 after the relevant moratorium was declared by the presidential decree, Kazinform reported.

Source: armenpress.am, Staff, September 24, 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: Kazakhstan
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