SANDRA BABCOCK

Sandra Babcock specializes in international human rights litigation, access to justice, death penalty defense, international gender rights, and the application of international law in US courts. Professor Babcock is the faculty director of the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide. Through her clinical teaching, she has spent several years working on access to justice for prisoners in Malawi, where her advocacy has led to the release of more than 250 prisoners-140 of whom were previously sentenced to death.

 

KRISANNE VAILLANCOURT MURPHY, M.T.S.

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy is the Executive Director of Catholic Mobilizing Network. From 2003 to 2005, Krisanne served as the Executive Director of Witness for Peace, a politically independent, faith-based national grassroots organization committed to promoting peace, justice, and non-violence in U.S. foreign policy.

 

 

SUZANA NORLIHAN ALIAS

 

Suzana Norlihan Alias is an advocate and solicitor from Malaysia, she has been actively in practis for 18 years unr Messrs SuzanaNorlihan & Co. She only handles criminal trials. Apart of being a criminal layer she also experiences the cruelty of death penalty whereby her brother was arrested for murder in year 2001 and sentences to death in year 2009 by the Malaysian High Court. She is now actively involve in the anti death penalty cause because she knows there are flaws in the system and law. She wil not stop until Malaysia abolishes the death penalty for all type of offences. 

 

 

 

MARIO  MARAZZITI

 

He has been a member of the Italian Parliament since February 2013, where he served as President of  the XII Committee for Social and Health Affairs. Promoter and VicePresident of the Parliamentary Committee of inquiry on the immigration hospitality system in Italy for asylum seekers.  He has also served as President of the Committee for human rights of the House of Representatives.

Co-founder of the World Coalition against the Death Penalty (2002), for his passionate civic commitment has earned him a reputation of international relevance in the advocacy of human rights and social integration. 

 

A member of the Community of Sant’Egidio since the very beginning years, he has participated to the wide range of Peace-making, Reconciliation and Inter-Faith Dialogue that have made Sant’Egidio an effective actor in ecumenism, human rights advocacy and Conflict Prevention and Resolution worldwide. Marazziti was the International Spokesperson for Sant’Egidio till 2013 and at present coordinates the world campaign Cities for Life-Cities Against the Death Penalty and for a universal Moratorium on the death penalty.

 

Columnist, Media and International social programs manager, he has a large scientific production. Among other books, Thirteen ways of Looking at the Death Penalty (New York, 2015); Life, Da Caino al Califfato (Milan 2015); Bauman, la luce in fondo al tunnel (Milan 2028) and Porte Aperte. Viaggio nell’Italia che non ha paura (Milan 2019).

 

 

 

NAVI PILLAY 

 

President of International Commission against Death Penalty ( ICOMDP).

Navanethem "Navi" Pillay (Tamil: நவநீதம் பிள்ளை; born 23 September 1941) is a South African jurist who served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014. A South African of Indian Tamil origin, she was the first non-white woman judge of the High Court of South Africa, and she has also served as a judge of the International Criminal Court and President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. In April 2015 Pillay became the 16th Commissioner of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty. She is also one of the 25 leading figures on the Information and Democracy Commission launched by Reporters Without Borders.

 

 

 

DAVID SASSOLI 

 

David Sassoli is the President of the European Parliament. Born in Florence, he started working as a journalist at  young age at Il Giorno  where he worked for seven years. In 1992, he began working as a television news reporter and correspondent for RAI TG3 news channel. Subsequently he worked on news programmes on Rai Uno and Rai Due, before joining the editorial staff of TG1 in 1999 as a special correspondent. Over the next 10 years, he was responsible for managing prime time news broadcasts, and covering major national and international events. Her also became Deputy Director of RAI TG1 and responsible for indepth programmes TV7 and TG1 Special.

Since a young age, he was involved in educational associations, such as the Scouts and Catholic youth movements. When the Partito Democratico (PD) was formed in 2007, he considered in the right place for his political commitment. On 7 June 2009, he was elected to the European Parliament as a member for Central Italy. In the 2009-2014 legislature, he was head of delegation of the Partito Democratico in the European Parliament. In 2014, he was re-elected as an MEP and was elected Vice-President of the European Parliament, with responsibility for Mediterranean Policy, the budget, and buildings. He was a member of the Committee for Transport and Tourism, and led on European railway reform (4th Railway Package), and the Single European Sky. In May 2019, he began his third term as an MEP for central Italy and on 3 July, he was elected President of the European Parliament.

 

 

JOACHIM JOSE’ MARTINEZ  

 

Joaquin Martinez is a powerful witness and testimonial of how the death penalty can crash lives of innocent people and of how any judicial system is always at risk of irreparable mistakes. Wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death, he was acquitted on June 6, 2001 after spending four years in prison for a crime he did not commit, making him the first Spanish citizen to be exonerated from U.S. death row.

Joaquin's case is a textbook example of prosecutorial misconduct. He was arrested in January 1996 for a double murder in Florida and was convicted and sentenced to death on April 15, 1997. This conviction was overturned by the Florida Supreme Court due to misconduct in presenting evidence that prejudiced the jury and improper statements by a police detective at trial, stating he believed Joaquin was guilty.

During Joaquin's retrial, key prosecution witnesses changed their stories and recanted their testimony; the informants all admitted that detectives had promised them rewards for implicating Joaquin. Additionally, a key piece of evidence – an audio tape of alleged incriminating statements made by Joaquin – was now ruled inadmissible. The tape was so inaudible that the first jury had been provided a transcript; it was discovered the transcript had been edited by the victim’s father, who was manager of the sheriff’s office evidence room at the time of the murder. After these gross incidences of misconduct were exposed and the defense introduced new alibi testimony in the retrial, Joaquin was acquitted of all charges. Joaquin's case gained international attention during his time wrongfully incarcerated, particularly in his home country of Spain. The Pope, the King of Spain, and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar were all actively involved. Joaquin now lives in Spain and campaigns for the abolition of capital punishment on a global scale. “We have come a long way. I think it’s incredible how much has been achieved in the 12 years since I was released,” Joaquin noted. Yet he maintains committed to the fight for abolition until it is fully achieved.