EURO-MP Jean Lambert has welcomed a landmark judgement from the European Court of Human Rights, which has ruled Turkey's imposition of the death penalty on Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan violated his human rights.
The Strasbourg court said execution violated the European Convention on Human Rights' prohibition on "inhuman and degrading treatment", adding that capital punishment has now come to be regarded as "an unacceptable form of punishment" which "can no longer be seen as having any legitimate place in a democratic society".
Mrs Lambert, Green Party MEP for London and a member of the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee, welcomed the ruling.
"This is a landmark ruling which closes a crucial loophole in European human rights law which had prohibited torture but allowed execution under certain circumstances.
"Mr Ocalan has been held in solitary confinement for the duration of his three years in Turkish custody and UN Human Rights monitors have warned of a recent serious deterioration in his health and prison conditions.
"The Turkish government must now ensure Mr Ocalan's conditions improve to meet international human rights standards. I urge other governments who still use the death penalty - notably Saudi Arabia and the US - to examine this ruling and reconsider their own positions."
ENDS
Note
to Editors
A full copy of the European Court of Human Rights' ruling is available
at http://www.echr.coe.int
For more information please contact Ben Duncan on 020 7407 6280 or 07973 823358