GILLESDENIZOT

Speech against the Death Penalty
London, UK – 30th of April, 2010 - In front of the U.S. Embassy

My name is Gilles Denizot, and I oppose the death penalty. It is a pleasure to stand before you and I would like to thank Reprieve for their support and for their invaluable work. It also means a lot to me to welcome and to thank my fellow activists attending this protest. Your presence is very much appreciated. Finally, I must credit three special people: Elizabeth ZITRIN, Bill PELKE and Sister Helen PREJEAN. I am honored and privileged to know you.

I come from a country where, not long ago, human beings were tied to a wooden board, alive, and cut in two. Literally. It took great moral wisdom and immense political courage to stop this shame and horror. True, some of those who have been put to death had committed terrible acts that needed to be punished. But killing them stained our hands. This fact implies neither weakness nor sentimentality on my part. I believe that justice is about balance, a balance that needs to be restored, primarily by the offender for the victim. To achieve this and to create a healthier civilization, we need to listen to murder victims’ families, because they know that an execution never brings closure. We must turn from violence to healing, from vengeance to compassion. Throughout this long journey, we were wise and brave enough to understand the necessity to abolish slavery and torture. The next step is the universal abolition of the death penalty. Our journey continues and it is a journey of hope.

There is much to say against capital punishment, but today, with your permission, I would like to focus on death row inmates, our brothers and sisters in humanity. Let me share some personal stories.

‘You have a voice and people listen to your voice. You have a voice and I have none.’

These were the very first words I received from a death row inmate. I am his voice today. The voice of Anthony Shawn MEDINA. Since September 13, 1996, Texas calls him 999204, I call him Tony.

On this very day, I lend my voice to all human beings on death row, and especially:

• Linda CARTY. A woman, a mother, a grandmother, a British passport-holder on Texas death row, now dangerously close to execution. Do we need another reason to protest? The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, ratified by the US in 1969 without reservation, requires that consular officials be notified of the arrest and/or detention of one of their nationals. The U.S. Department of State explains: ‘Our most important function as consular officers is to protect and assist private U.S. citizens or nationals traveling or residing abroad. Few of our citizens need that assistance more than those who have been arrested in a foreign country or imprisoned in a foreign jail.’ When did the British government hear about Linda Carty’s case? Only after she was sentenced to death. In this time of election, I urge you to bring Linda Carty’s case to bear. Because the U.S. executes women, I oppose the death penalty. Because the U.S. does not respect international treaties and executes foreign nationals, I oppose the death penalty.

• Hank SKINNER. Husband of my friend Sandrine, both of them figures of the abolition movement. 15 years on Texas death row, most of them in disciplinary confinement, banned from visitation and letters for years. No eyewitnesses to the crime, no confession, no apparent motive. The key State witness admitting to have lied. DNA tests which have been repeatedly refused. An appointed lawyer who happens to be the former District Attorney in a case now prosecuted by his successor. Three days ago, a New York Times’ editorial stated: ‘The right to a fair hearing, before an impartial judge, is at the heart of the nation’s judicial system.’ How can one speak of fairness and impartiality when judges and prosecutors are elected? It is politics! Where is fair justice then? Because death sentences in the US are pronounced without a trustworthy trial, I oppose the death penalty and I raise my voice today for Hank Skinner.

• Jeff WOOD. The brother of my friend Terri Been, the uncle of Gavin, Nick and Nathan and family member of the Kids Against the Death Penalty who are holding a ‘Voices for Death Row Inmates’ protest in Austin, Texas as I speak. Convicted of, and I quote ‘killing a convenience store clerk during a January 1996 robbery’ unquote. Yet, Jeff did not kill anyone, he was not even present in the shop when the murder occurred. The actual killer has already been executed. This is the ignominious Texas Law of Parties: the Code of Criminal Procedures permits the infliction of the death penalty if the jury believes that the defendant neglected to ‘anticipate that a human life would be taken.’ Furthermore, Jeff suffers from severe mental, emotional, and learning disabilities. He was abused and beaten repeatedly as a child. He is submissive to dominant behavior because of such. Jeff had no council present during his interrogation by the police. He was found not mentally fit to stand trial. Jeff had no witnesses speaking on his behalf during the punishment phase of his trial. Because Texas kills human beings who have not killed, I oppose the death penalty. Because the US continues to execute human beings showing evident signs of mental retardation, I oppose the death penalty.

• Justin WOLFE. The son of my friend Terri Steinberg. At the age of 20, Justin Wolfe, was sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit. Justin has been on Virginia’s death row since 2002 and has already had two stays of execution. If executed, Justin would be the first person that we know of in the state of Virginia to be put to death for a murder he neither committed nor was present at. The actual killer initially implicated Justin in exchange for immunity for the death sentence. Justin was tried and it took only five minutes for the jury to hand down a death sentence. Justin became the state’s youngest death-row inmate. Five years later, the actual killer admits by sworn affidavit that he lied to the jury about Wolfe’s involvement in the murder, to avoid the death penalty and to satisfy prosecutors. ‘Justin had nothing to do with the killing’, he said in the affidavit. So why is Justin still on death row? Because the Virginia Supreme Court rules give criminal defendants only 21 days after sentencing to make a claim of innocence to the trial judge based on new evidence. That’s the fastest deadline in the country. Since the killer’s confession arrived in 2007, it is not acceptable. I’ll tell you what is not acceptable: it is unacceptable to send a 20-year old innocent to death row and it is unacceptable to leave him there even one more day! Because deals are made that send innocent people to death row while the guilty are not punished, I must, in the name of true justice, oppose the death penalty. Because US laws increasingly prevent crucial evidence to be presented, evidence that could save lives, I oppose the death penalty and I appeal to Tim Kaine, the Virginia governor who personally opposes the death penalty, to do the right thing and show justice for Justin Wolfe.

In the name of justice, I also raise my voice today for Louis Castro PEREZ, the brother of my friend Delia Perez Meyer, another man trapped in the unfair American justice system. I remember the son of my friend Donna Jean Chamberlain, Karl Eugene CHAMBERLAIN, executed june 11, 2008 by Texas. I raise my voice for David Lee POWELL, who after serving 32 years on Texas death row is now scheduled to be executed on June 15. Because US death row inmates often get life AND death, because this is torture and torture is prohibited, I oppose the death penalty and all cruel and unusual punishments.

In the name of justice, I shout from the rooftops today that Cameron Todd WILLINGHAM was innocent and that Texas not only executed him but is now trying to conceal its error. I say that Gabriel GONZALEZ, husband of my friend Carolina, spent 15 years on Texas death row for a crime he did not commit. On February 1st, 2010, he luckily was re-sentenced to life and we now have only one year to collect the money for the trial that may exonerate him. Since 1973, 138 human beings, falsely accused and sent to US death rows have been exonerated and set free. Some stayed there for as much as 33 years! How many ‘Dead men walking’ could now be very much alive, like my friends Ray KRONE and Curtis McCARTY? These men were saved not thanks to the system, but despite the system!

I declare that the death penalty does not work, it only creates more victims whose voices we do not hear, it wastes precious money for death rather than using it for life, it legitimates violence, teaches violence and encourages violence. I claim that when a government ignores overwhelming evidence and keeps on killing to show that killing is wrong, this government is not a democracy. I respectfully, yet firmly say to the US citizens: ‘Be the democratic leaders you crave to be. Abolish the death penalty, like more than two-thirds of our world already have. It is not a matter whether it will be abolished, because abolition is moving! The question is: how long are you going to remain behind us all? What have you in common with Indonesia, where Serge ATLAOUI, the husband of my friend Sabine, is sentenced to death? What have you in common with Uganda, where my brothers and sisters who live with HIV and AIDS are targeted to die? What have you in common with Iran, where at least 27 executions have taken place in the last 20 days, where my LGBT brothers and sisters are hanged before they had a chance to become adults, where women are stoned to death by a bloodthirsty crowd? What have you in common with Japan, where death row inmates are suddenly awaken and hanged without even letting their families know until after the execution? What have you in common with China, where human beings are executed to provide organs for transplants and where executions are carried out each year by the thousands? I’ll tell you what you unfortunately (but not inevitably) have in common: your government also kills human beings and your government kills these human beings in your name. Therefore I ask you, my American friends: How long will you wait before shouting: ‘Not in our names!’

‘You have a voice and I have none’ says my friend Tony MEDINA. Activists! Let us be the voices for death row inmates, in the USA, and around the world, wherever human beings still are put to death in the name of justice. Today and until the right to life really becomes the first human right, let us raise our voices!

Thank you!