Kitchen TV: Experience of Great Britain on the way to the full abolition of the death penalty
Belarusian state continues retaining and performing death penalty, remaining the only country on the post-Soviet space and in Europe where the death penalty is still used. At the same time, 50 years has passed since the last death execution in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
“We reached the point when there was no chance of death penalty being restored, just over ten years ago. And the last hanging that took place in the United Kingdom was back in 1964. We actually remember that anniversary, 50 years of that last execution,” says the guest of the program “Kitchen TV” David Spires, Deputy Head of the Embassy of Great Britain in Belarus.In the latest issue of the human rights video project the diplomat tells about the experience of his country concerning the abolition of the death penalty. “There are a lot of issues where politicians need to be driven and need to listen to the public. But there are also issues, where the politicians have to take the lead. They have to make a moral and ethical judgment. And I believe that the death penalty is one of such cases,” emphasizes David Spires.
Representatives of the Embassy of the UK again demonstrated the wish to foster Belarus in getting rid of such inhumane penalty as the capital punishment and acceding to the European standards in the sphere of human rights. In 2011, the then Ambassador of Great Britain to Belarus, Rosemary Thomas, being an active opponent of the death penalty, stepped up with the article “The Thousand Year Journey: Death Penalty Abolition in the UK”.
