SOUTH AFRICA. SENTENCE COMMUTED FOR LAST DEATH ROW INMATE

December 1, 2006: South Africa's last death row inmate has had his sentence finally commuted to a jail term 11 years after capital punishment was declared unconstitutional, the country's highest court announced.
"The unconstitutionality of the death penalty can now be said to have been realised in practice," the Constitutional Court said in a special report.
The court did not name the inmate, or the crimes for which he had been sentenced to death.
Up to 400 people were believed to have been on death row when the court ruled in 1995 that the death sentence was incompatible with South Africa's constitution, which protects the right to life and freedom from cruel punishment.
Legislation was passed in 1997 prescribing the procedure for replacing death sentences with appropriate jail terms.
But by May 2005, the Constitutional Court learnt that the sentences of 62 death row inmates had yet to be commuted. It ordered the process to be hastened and appointed itself as supervisor. "We appreciate the fact that the orders made (in 1995) have at last been fulfilled," the report by nine Constitutional Court judges said. (Sources: Agence France-Presse, 01/12/2006)