B3-1110 and 1113/93

Resolution on executions in the United States

The European Parliament,

A.gravely concerned that Walter Blair of Missouri is due to be executed on 21 July; that Frederick Lashley of Missouri is due to be executed on 28 July; that Chuck Lee Mathenia of Missouri may be executed in the near future; that Gary Graham of Texas is due to be executed on 17 August and Dany Harris, also of Texas, brother of Curtis Harris, who was executed on 1 July, may also be executed in the near future,

B.drawing attention to the fact that in all these cases there are special grounds for clemency because the offenders were minors at the time of the crimes for which they are being convicted; because they are mentally retarded; or because their defence lawyers conducted the cases in an unsatisfactory manner,

C.noting with regret the ruling handed down on 24 June 1993 by the United States Supreme Court rejecting the appeal against the death sentence on Dorsie Johnson for a crime committed when he was nineteen,

D.noting with concern that this constitutes a precedent applicable to the cases of other individuals who committed crimes as minors or young adults, including more than a dozen who are currently awaiting execution,

E.recalling its previous resolutions calling for an end to capital punishment for crimes committed by minors,

F.reaffirming its opposition to the death penalty,

1.Deplores the fact that some states in the United States continue to execute those who, in the vast majority of countries which still inflict the death penalty, would not be subject to execution on grounds of possible miscarriage of justice, being minors at the time when they committed the crime, or because of diminished responsibility due to their mental state;

2.Appeals to Governor Carnahan of Missouri and Governor Richards of Texas to grant clemency to these prisoners;

3.Calls on the Commission, the Council, EPC and the Member States to press for an end to capital punishment in the United States;

4.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, EPC, the Governors of Missouri and Texas, the Chairmen of the Justice Committees in both Houses of Congress and the Attorney-General of the United States.