Death penalty is finally consigned to history

Ernest S. (in the white shirt) was shot for treason during the Second World War (Cinémathèque) إرنست س. (بالقميص الأبيض) تم إعدامه في سويسرا خلال الحرب العالمية الثانية بتهمة الخيانة (المصدر:Cinémathequ)

As of this week the death penalty is to be officially banned in Switzerland and other European countries, even in wartime.

On Tuesday, Protocol No.13 to the European Convention on Human Rights concerning the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances comes into force.

Arthur Mattli of the Swiss foreign ministry told swissinfo that it was important for Europe to officially abolish the death penalty for good. Up until now the ban did not apply in times of war.

“This move sets a good example for the development of international law in other continents,” he said.

The human rights organisation, Amnesty International, which has been campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty for more than 20 years, described the ratification of Protocol No.13 as a symbolic gesture.

“This is the first international treaty that abolishes the death penalty completely – without exceptions. Up until now the ban did not apply to war times,” spokesman Jürg Keller told swissinfo.

Complete abolition

Protocol No.13 is a follow-up to Protocol No.6, which was signed in Strasbourg on April 28, 1983, and did not exclude death penalty in times of war or imminent threat of war.

Switzerland was one of the first countries to ratify Protocol No.13 in May last year, which, according to a foreign ministry statement, “reflected its permanent commitment to the abolition of the death penalty”.

Capital punishment in times of peace was banned in Switzerland in 1942 and the last civil execution took place in 1940, when the serial killer Hans Vollenweider died by guillotine.

During the Second World War, 17 soldiers accused of treason were shot dead under the death penalty law.

The Swiss film-makers Richard Dindo and Niklaus Meienberg recaptured the killings in their documentary, “The Execution of the Traitor Ernst S.”, which was released in 1976.

In Switzerland, the death penalty was removed from military penal law in 1992. However, it has not existed in any form for more than 60 years and is officially banned in the new Federal Constitution of April 18, 1999.

Reintroducing death penalty

In the past few years, political hardliners have repeatedly called for the death penalty to be brought back in Switzerland for serious crimes.

In the early nineties the far-right Freedom Party repeatedly campaigned to re-introduce capital punishment, arguing that it was the only way to crack down on drug dealers.

However, Amnesty International’s Jürg Keller doubts whether capital punishment could ever be re-introduced in Switzerland.

“The death penalty is explicitly forbidden in our constitution,” he said.

swissinfo, Gaby Ochsenbein (translation: Billi Bierling)

Key facts

The death penalty was abolished in times of peace in Switzerland in 1942.
The last execution took place in canton Obwalden in 1940.
Switzerland signed Protocol No.13 in Vilnius on May 3, 2002.
The protocol generally abolishes death penalty even in times of war.
The Council of Europe has 45 member States.