MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION
18.11.2008
pursuant to Rule 115 of the Rules of Procedure
by Ryszard Czarnecki, Ewa Tomaszewska, Eoin Ryan, Mieczysław Edmund Janowski
on behalf of the UEN Group
on death penalty in Nigeria
See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B6-0602/2008
B6‑0605/2008
European Parliament resolution on death penalty in Nigeria
The European Parliament,
- having regard to its previous resolutions on the abolition of the death penalty and the need for an immediate moratorium on executions in those countries where the death penalty is still imposed,
- having regard to UN General Assembly Resolution 62/149 of 18 December 2007 on the moratorium on the use of the death penalty in the world,
- having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
- having regard to the updated and revised version of the EU Guidelines on the Death Penalty, adopted by the Council on 16 June 2008,
- having regard to the recent Amnesty International report, entitled Waiting for the Hangman, on the current situation as regards the death penalty in Nigeria,
- having regard to Rule 115(5) of its Rules of Procedure,
A whereas approximately 735 prisoners are on death row in Nigeria; whereas over 130 of these prisoners have been on death row for longer than ten years,
B. whereas, in violation of international law, c. 40 of those on death row in Nigeria were under the age of 18 at the time of conviction,
C. whereas, contrary to a Nigerian Government statement of 2007, executions continue to take place in Nigeria, with Amnesty International reporting at lease six executions carried out in 2006,
D. whereas the Nigerian National Study Group on the Death Penalty and the Presidential Commission on Reform of the Administration of Justice found that that inmates on death row are almost exclusively poor and without legal representation,
E. whereas abuses and weaknesses in the Nigerian judicial system have resulted inter alia, in:
- -convictions achieved with the support of evidence and confessions obtained through the use of torture or police brutality, with a large proportion of death row prisoners in Nigeria sentenced on the basis of a confessional statement
- -loss of case files denying death row prisoners the option of appeal
- -capital trials of unacceptable lengths of up to ten years, with equally unacceptable delays in processing appeals
- -death row prisoners being without any legal representation or being incompetently represented,
F. whereas in May 2007 the Nigerian Information Minister announced an amnesty for certain categories of death-row prisoners,
G. whereas there are significant variations between some Nigerian states in capital and penal codes and practice,
1. Calls on the Nigerian authorities to declare an immediate moratorium on the death penalty at both state and federal levels and to commute the sentences of those currently on death row to ones of imprisonment;
2. Calls on the Nigerian authorities to respect and promote international standards of fair trial and due process, especially in the areas of inadequate legal representation of poorer prisoners, of confessions or evidence obtained through violence, coercion or torture, of inordinately long trial and appeal periods and of conviction of minors;
3. Welcomes President Yar'Adua's recent pardon of Ibrahim Aliyu, who has spent 22 years on death row, and hopes that President Yar'Adua's request to the governor of Rivers State Rotimi Amaechi for the pardon of Nze Ikemenawa Enweremadu is similarly granted;
4. Is deeply concerned that many of those death row prisoners eligible for release under the amnesty announced in May 2007 are still on death row;
5. Instruct its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the High Representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the Governments and Parliaments of the PlaceTypePlaceTypeMemberPlaceType States, the President and National Assembly of Nigeria