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Human Rights Commissioner Kofler on the execution scheduled for tomorrow in the United States
The Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Assistance at the Federal Foreign Office issued the following statement today (11 January) on the execution scheduled to take place in the United States tomorrow:
I deeply regret the planned execution of Lisa Montgomery in the United States. The competent US court has confirmed that Ms Montgomery suffers from multiple psychological conditions. From her early childhood, she was subjected to domestic and sexual violence. A group of more than 1000 lawyers have submitted an appeal for clemency for her. Ms Montgomery would be the first woman to be executed at federal level since 1953. I strongly urge the outgoing US Administration to refrain from carrying out this and two other executions at federal level.
The German Government is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances, as it is a brutal and inhumane form of punishment. That is why we have been campaigning actively for many years, alongside our partners in the EU, for it to be abolished around the world.
Background information
Since July 2020, death sentences have been carried out in the United States at federal level for the first time since 2003. Worldwide, the number of countries that impose the death penalty is falling. Only a few weeks ago, 123 countries in the United Nations General Assembly supported the resolution on a moratorium on capital punishment co-initiated by the EU.