(Lvov, Ukraine, 23 June, 1992) - Ukrainske Slowo (Ukrainian Word) newspaper, issuing in Lvov, Western Ukraine, published an article on the materials of Amnesty International. Below is the text of the article:

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THE PUNISHMENT

by Oleg Dorozhevec

During the 1991, 2086 prisoners in 32 countries of the world were sentenced, 2703 persons from 62 countries were sentenced to death in the trials. It is the second result for the last ten years (more executions were only in 1989 - 2229). 89% of the executed people are citizens of China (1084 registered cases) and Iran (775 cases).

The World

Now death penalty is not used in any European country, except the countries of former USSR, Albania and new Yugoslavia. Constitutions of Slovenia (1989), Croatia (1990) and Macedonia (1991) are not foreseeing death penalty. No execution was registered in Poland since 1988. The moratorium for death penalty was introduced in July, 1990 by The Great National Assembly of Bulgaria. In fact the same moratorium acts since 1984 in Turkey. The Belgian parliament works now under the draft of low about the prohibition of death penalty for the crimes, made during the peace time.

Today 47 countries of the world excluded death penalty from its legislations. Another 16 states foresee it only during the war time. The last great act of abolitionism became the abolishing death penalty since 31 December, 1989 in five countries of our continent together: Checkoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, Ireland and Andorra. The record results has small San Marino: the last known execution took place there in 1468.

In its resolutions at 15 June, 1981 and 17 January, 1986, European Parliament declared, that death penalty is violation of human rights and called to the civilized world to abolish it. Among all the abolitionist countries no state has renew the institution of death penalty. The excluding is again only USSR. Argentina and Nepal after the series of terrorist acts came back to the capital punishment, but soon abolished it again.

Ukraine

The official statistics about death penalty is still not published.

It is known only, that death sentences are passing and fulfilling regularly. The scale of this practice can be estimated only approximately. For example, in his last intervention, the chief of amnesty commision of the Soviet parliament (Summer 1991) stated, that the majority of the 208 executions, registered in 1990 in USSR, took place in two republics - Russia and Ukraine.

We don't know nothing, concerning any discussions in Ukrainian Supreme Rada about the problem of reducing the use of death penalty. Now exist 18 arts of crime, which are punished by death according the Criminal Code of the republic.

The Ukrainian united group of Amnesty International appealed to the president of republic, Mr Leonid Kravchuk with propsition to declare - as a first step - a moratorium for using death penalty:

a) for all the crimes without any exception;

or b) for all the crimes, made during the peace time;

or at least, c) for all the crimes of the peace time, except these ones, which call the most sharp reaction of people - killing by the most havy circumstances.

The petition is dated by 27 May, 1992.

We are waiting for the answer.