Cities around Italy and
internationally will be illuminated on Monday as part of the
Cities for Life initiative, organised by the Rome-based
Community of Sant'Egidio for the International Day of Cities
Against the Death Penalty.
The initiative has been observed every November 30 since
2002 to mark the anniversary of the first abolition of the death
penalty on the part of a state, that of the Grand Duchy of
Tuscany on November 30, 1786.
"Cesare Beccaria said in 1764 that the death penalty hasn't
made us better. It isn't a solution, rather, it represents the
failure of a community," said Ettore Rosato, MP and head of the
Democratic Party (PD) in the Lower House, on his Facebook page,
adding that Italy was the first to propose an international
moratorium on the death penalty at the UN General Assembly in
1994, which was approved in 2007.
"Capital punishment is still legal in 94 countries in the
world, but only practiced in 40," Rosato wrote.
"The side of countries renouncing (the death penalty) is
growing day by day, thanks to the contribution of many
associations and NGOs for human rights, and Italy is by their
side".
In Tuscany, Governor Enrico Rossi presided over the yearly
solemn session of the regional assembly marking the anniversary
of the 1786 abolition of the death penalty by the Grand Duke of
Tuscany.
"In the declaration of human rights there is the right to
life but there's not an explicit ban on the death penalty,"
Rossi said.
"That means we still have a long way to go ahead of us if
we consider that there are still states that commit veritable
massacres every year".
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