Powiedz NIE dla kary śmierci na Białorusi

How the death penalty was abolished in different countries

Italy

The main user of the capital punishment in the history of Italy was the Holy Inquisition, although formally the ecclesiastical court did not execute people, but was authorized by Pope Innocent IV (1252) only to torture during the investigation. The Church was to use every effort to return the heretic to the Church; if he persisted, or if his conversion was feigned – at first the verdict was a simple condemnation for heresy and was accompanied by excommunication or declaration that the defendant was no longer under the jurisdiction of the Church and was passed to the temporal authorities. Over time, the sentences for the transmission to the secular authorities started being accompanied with the words “debita animadversione puniendum”, “shall be punished according to merit”.

United Kingdom

The death penalty was used in the UK since the founding of the state. It had been abolished for the first time in the 11th century by William the Conqueror, but was reinstated by his son, William Rufus.

Vatican

Since the Vatican was a part of Rome, the practice of the death penalty was spread on it both during the Inquisition, and in the period of its decline. Like everywhere in Italy, the death penalty was executed by secular authorities, and used to be approved by the Holy See since its inception. There are many works of religious leaders, starting with Aurelius Augustine "The City of God" (written in 413-427), that approved of the imposition and execution of death sentences by secular authorities.

Mexico

The history of the death penalty in Mexico has a very old and deep roots. The jurisprudence of the Aztec state had the death penalty and the forms were terrible in their diversity, ranging from decapitation and dismemberment to stoning and hanging. Also, in the era of the Aztecs human lives used to be sacrificed to the gods (often these were prisoners).

Netherlands

During a considerable period of its existence the Netherlands were under the influence of Spain, where the death penalty was widely used. However, in the 16th century the Dutch began the fight for independence, and in 1549 launched the creation of the Dutch Republic, which lasted almost until the occupation of the territory by the French troops in 1895.

News

Preface by Ales Bialiatski to the book The Death Penalty in Belarus

The book The Death Penalty in Belarus was prepared in the framework of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders against the Death Penalty in Belarus”.

Malaysian man believed at risk of execution: Pannir Selvam Pranthaman

Amnesty International calls on the government of Singapore to commute his death sentence.

"The existence of the death penalty is always a litmus test of the human rights situation"

A conversation with the coordinator of the campaign Human Rights Defenders against the Death Penalty in Belarus Andrei Paluda.