European outrage at US execution
California’s execution of a murderer this morning outraged many in Europe who regard the practice as barbaric, and feelings ran particularly deep in state Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s native Austria.
At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI’s top official for justice matters denounced the death penalty for going against redemption and human dignity.
“We know the death penalty doesn’t resolve anything,” Cardinal Renato Martino said. “Even a criminal is worthy of respect because he is a human being. The death penalty is a negation of human dignity.”
Capital punishment is illegal throughout the European Union, and many Europeans consider state-sponsored executions to be barbaric.
Those feelings were amplified in the case of Stanley Tookie Williams, due to the apparent remorse they believe the Crips gang co-founder showed by writing children’s books about the dangers of gangs and violence.
Leaders of Austria’s pacifist Green Party went as far as to call for Schwarzenegger to be stripped of his Austrian citizenship – a demand, however, that was quickly rejected by Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel despite his government’s opposition to the death penalty.
“Whoever, out of political calculation, allows the death of a person rehabilitated in such an exemplary manner has rejected the basic values of Austrian society,” said Peter Pilz, a Greens leader.
In Graz, Schwarzenegger’s hometown, local Greens said they would file a petition to remove the governor’s name from the southern city’s Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium.
Williams was executed this morning at California’s San Quentin State Prison after Schwarzenegger denied Williams’ request for clemency.
Schwarzenegger suggested that Williams’ supposed change of heart was not genuine because he had not shown any real remorse for the killings committed by the Crips.
In Italy, the country’s chapter of Amnesty International called the execution of the Crips founder “a cold-blooded murder".
“His execution is a slap in the face to the principle of rehabilitation of inmates, an inhumane and inclement act toward a person who, with his exemplary behaviour and his activity in favour of street kids, had become an important figure and a symbol of hope for many youths,” the group said in a statement.
In Germany, Volker Beck, a leading member of the opposition Greens party, said he was “disappointed” that Schwarzenegger allowed the execution to go through.
“Schwarzenegger’s decision is a cowardly decision,” Beck told the Netzeitung online newspaper.
“It is not thinkable that a prisoner could do more for society from prison than Williams did,” Beck said. “To kill him nonetheless is state-organized murder out of stubbornness.”
