Yesterday, the EU published its final report detailing international law violations that occurred during the Georgia-Russia war in August last year and its aftermath. This report highlighted many of the original findings detailed in Amnesty International’s November 2008 report (pdf). The AI report expressed concern for both parties’ use of indiscriminate force against civilians and the use of inappropriate and inaccurate weaponry in largely civilian areas. It also documented extensive looting, arson and violent attacks directed towards Georgian-majority villages in South Ossetia by South Ossetian forces, paramilitary groups and privately armed individuals. The findings of the AI report relied on research gathered from four fact finding missions and the analysis of satellite imagery provided by AIUSA’s Science for Human Rights project .
Some of the findings of the new EU Report include:
The shelling of Tskhinvali (the South Ossetian capital) by the Georgian armed forces during the night of 7 to 8 August 2008 was not justifiable under international law and marked the beginning of the conflict
Russia violated international law by recognizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent nations and by distributing international passports within those areas.
While Russia’s initial actions in fighting back against attacks in South Ossetia were justified, the level of force used to push back into Georgia “went far beyond the reasonable limits of defense” and was “in violation of international law”.
The refugee crisis in the region remains since Russia is still refusing to allow ethnic Georgian refugees to return to their homes in South Ossetia Furthermore, the EU report concludes that the risk of renewed violence remains.
By Laura Moye, Death Penalty Abolition Campaign Director
This is just a quick note from Savannah, Georgia, where I am right now with a wonderful delegation of folks from the UK who are here visiting to support Troy Davis.
On Friday, September 25, we had meetings with three members of Congress’ offices and European embassy staffers. All of these public servants have been invested in work to abolish the death penalty and create a more fair justice system. It was wonderful to exchange perspectives and discuss strategies for a global effort to end the death penalty. That night, we flew to Atlanta. We drove down to Jackson Saturday morning along with Troy’s mother, Virginia, and sister, Martina. We entered the maximum security facility, lined with tall fences covered in multiple coils of concertina wire and guard towers at every corner.
Bob Barr thinks so. In his Washington Times op-ed, the former federal prosecutor, Georgia Congressman and Libertarian Presidential candidate, labels Scalia the “high court curmudgeon” for his dissent from the Supreme Court’s order giving Troy Davis to have an evidentiary hearing on his substantial evidence of innocence.
Scalia believes, simply, that the Constitution doesn’t protect the innocent from being executed. Barr believes that it does.
“The Constitution of the United States was adopted in 1787; the Bill of Rights four years later in 1791. Apparently for Justice Scalia, these past 218 years have not sufficed to “clearly establish” that federal law is based on the premise that only the guilty are to be executed.”
Bob Barr was instrumental in the passage of the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) back in 1996, and has clearly been perturbed by the way that law has been interpreted to prevent what justice plainly requires in this case:
“… a full hearing at which the witnesses Davis believes will show his actual innocence are allowed to testify.” And at which “… the state of Georgia will have full opportunity to rebut that testimony.”
The “pinched and erroneous” interpretations of AEDPA by cantankerous old judges like Scalia ignore the fundamental basis for law and justice, which is to punish the guilty and protect the innocent.
Despite the Supreme Court’s summer hiatus, the Troy Davis case continues to make news. Tuesday night on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, reporter Gary Tuchman covered the case. His report includes interviews with some of the witnesses who have recanted their trial testimony, and well as one of the jurors who now says she would find Troy Davis not guilty. Tuchman also interviews Officer Mark MacPhail’s widow, but was unsuccessful in scoring an interview with the alternative suspect, Sylvester “Red” Coles.
The US Supreme Court reconvenes on September 29, and may make a decision on his case at that time, but meanwhile the new District Attorney in Chatham County, Georgia, can still reopen the investigation into the case.
Today, on its last day of work before summer vacation, the U.S. Supreme Court postponed its review of Troy Anthony Davis’ case until September. As Amnesty International has repeatedly pointed out, Davis was sentenced to death for the 1989 shooting of a police officer in Savannah in the absence of any physical evidence against him and based solely on the testimony of 9 witnesses. Since the trial, seven of the nine witnesses have recanted their statements or have changed them. Moreover, nine affidavits exist that implicate one of the remaining two witnesses in the murder. Doubts about the fairness of the verdict have arisen even among the jurors in Troy’s case who, eighteen years ago, unanimously sentenced Davis to death.
The Court’s decision (or non-decision) comes amidst a groundswell of local activism in Savannah, where citizens are demanding that the new District Attorney, Larry Chisolm, reopen the case due to the major doubts about Troy Davis’ responsibility for the crime. Today’s non-decision is also significant, in that it may show that at least some Supreme Court Justices are concerned about whether strong claims of innocence are getting adequate review in our lower courts.
In September, the U.S. Supreme Court could reject Troy’s petition. Or they could agree to hold a hearing on Troy’s case or remand it to the federal District Court for a new hearing. This would allow the new evidence available in this case to finally be examined in open court and would signify that fairness, at least in this case, is a priority over “finality”—something immensely important in the case of the death penalty, where mistakes, arbitrariness and bias are all too common.
Nearly twenty years ago Troy Davis was convicted of killing a Georgia police officer. As has become well known, the case against him has grown weaker and weaker as seven of the prosecution’s nine witnesses have recanted their testimony, many saying that they were coerced by police. Davis’ latest stay of execution has now expired, after his application for a second habeas petition was denied, preventing him from presenting new evidence.
But late last year, the Chatham County, Georgia (the county in which Troy Davis was convicted) elected a brand new District Attorney named Larry Chisholm, who successfully campaigned on a platform to “increase the sense of fairness” in the office. If these are truly his intentions, a great way to start would be for him intervene on behalf of Troy Davis to ensure that an innocent man is not executed based on false information.
This case could be monumental in shaping the career of the new DA. It seems clear from out here that intervening on behalf of Troy Davis would be seen as a courageous act that he could point to with pride for the rest of his political life. But inside Chatham County, where there are powerful forces pulling him in different directions, the decision is not quite so easy. Larry Chisolm is the first African American DA in the history of Chatham County, a county in the Deep South with a long history of racial division. So any decision in a case involving an African American convicted of killing a white police officer, however dubious the evidence now seems, will be extremely difficult and politically charged.
Chisholm’s intentions in this case are as yet unclear. He has stated that he will not move forward with the trial until all of Davis’ appeals are exhausted, and a remaining “original” habeas petition is sitting at the US Supreme Court, reportedly due to be considered by the end of this month. But DA Chisolm could at any time decide to re-open this tainted case, to take a closer look and find out what really happened that Summer night in Savannah almost 20 years ago. It is important for DA Chisholm to hear from citizens across the country that re-opening this case will be the right choice. You can take action right now to encourage DA Chisolm to do the right thing!
Today is the Global Day of Action for Troy Davis. Over 150 events in 45 state, DC, Puerto Rico, and 28 countries overseas have been scheduled, demonstrating as clearly as can be demonstrated that the public will not stand for the execution of a man who has had no hearing on evidence that he may be innocent. The failure of our courts to take seriously questions of innocence is of course not limited to Troy Davis’ case, but his case is so simple – 7 of 9 witnesses have recanted their trial testimony – and the solution so obvious – an evidentiary hearing featuring said witnesses – that it is in equal parts baffling, frustrating and outrageous that Troy Davis may be once again on the brink of another execution date.
A hearing to examine and cross-examine these witnesses should not be too much to ask.
Today, a last ditch effort with the Supreme Court will be filed, but it has become clear that our courts and politicians have a supremely bureaucratic mentality towards justice; they will only take action or exercise leadership if they know they are being watched. That is why it is so important that so many people are coming out today, to be seen and heard. And why it is so important that we continue to do so.
On April 16, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Troy Davis’ application for permission to file a new petition in Federal Court. This denial cannot be appealed, but Davis’ stay of execution was extended an extra 30 days to allow him to file an “original” habeas corpus petition with the US Supreme Court.
So, Troy Davis’ stay of execution expires on May 16.
On Tuesday, May 19, groups in Georgia, the United States, and around the world, will be organizing for the Global Day of Action for Troy Davis. These worldwide protests will demonstrate how widespread is the feeling that, given the steadfast refusal of federal courts to grant Davis a hearing on evidence that he might be innocent, an execution must not go forward in this case.
Even those who support the death penalty should admit that it would be a fundamental miscarriage of justice to allow an execution when doubts about guilt have been raised to this level, and no evidentiary hearing has been held to resolve those doubts.
Today, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals denied Troy Davis’ petition to file a second habeas petition in Federal district court. The decision is here. The vote of the three-judge panel was 2-1. The Court did extend Davis’ stay of execution for 30 days to give him a chance to file a habeas corpus petition with the US Supreme Court.
Indie rock group State Radio has joined forces with Amnesty International USA to create a powerful new video about the case of death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis. Davis faces execution in the state of Georgia, despite compelling evidence that he may be innocent.
Amnesty International works to protect human rights worldwide. We have more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in over 150 countries, and are completely independent from government, corporate or national interests.
Learn more about us at AmnestyUSA.org »
Geoffrey Mock is Egypt country specialist and chair of the Middle East County Specialists for AIUSA. He has worked on the Middle East for Amnesty for 17 years. See all »
