Council of Europe Appeals for Inmate
STRASBOURG, France (AP) - Europe's leading human rights organization urged the governor of Texas to spare Napoleon Beazley from being executed Wednesday for a crime he committed as a teen-ager.
The 43-nation Council of Europe reaffirmed its unequivocal opposition to the death penalty as an inhuman punishment which has no place in a democratic country.
Council President Lord Russell-Johnston and Secretary-general Walter Schwimmer said execution of Beazley would run counter to international legal standards and the norms of civilized society.
``We call on you to show restraint in the case of Napoleon Beazley whose life now depends entirely on your decision,'' they said in the statement late Tuesday to Texas Gov. Rick Perry. ``It is a matter of human decency to right the wrong before it is too late.''
Beazley, now 25, is to be executed in Texas later Wednesday, becoming the 19th criminal in the United States to be sentenced to death since 1976 for a crime committed as a teen-ager.
His case has drawn international attention because of his age at the time of the slaying, but also because the victim's son is a judge on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The case has also fractured the U.S. Supreme Court, drawn a crowd of death penalty opponents and led to renewed criticism about Texas' criminal justice system.
The Council of Europe is the guardian of the 1952 European Convention on Human Rights. In June, it threatened the United States and Japan with the loss of their observer status unless they stopped practicing capital punishment by 2003.
Originally published August 15, 2001.
