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| Europe's Top Human Right's Watchdog Condemns Beazley Execution |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 06/04/2002 |
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Europe's top human rights body recently condemned the execution of Napoleon Beazley, who was put to death in Texas last week for a murder he committed when he was 17 years old. In a statement, the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, Walter Schwimmer, said the Beazley case was troubling. 'To carry out the death sentence on someone so very young, as has now been the case in Texas, must be vehemently criticized,' Schwimmer said. 'The case of Napoleon Beazley is particularly distressing since he was a minor at the time of the crime.' Beazley, 25, was put to death by lethal injection Tuesday at a prison in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of a federal judge during a 1994 carjacking. Beazley apologized for the murder. Beazley's age, his background as a high school class president and star athlete, and lack of previous criminal record prompted calls from around the world to spare his life and end what Amnesty International called 'the barbaric practice of executing juvenile offenders.' Under Texas law, anyone who is at least 16 years old and is accused of a felony is considered an adult. Last minute appeals to commute Beazley's sentence to life in prison failed. The 44-nation Council of Europe is the guardian of the European Human Rights Convention which bans the death penalty as inhuman. The organization has campaigned for years to try and get other non-European countries to ban capital punishment as well. |
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