Gail Chasey receives the prize from Emma Bonino

“ABOLITIONIST OF THE YEAR 2009”: NAPOLITANO- APPLAUSE FOR NEW MEXICO GOVERNOR AND PARLIAMENTARIAN, PRIZE WINNERS

July 29, 2009: “Italy has always been first in line against the death penalty” and it is “an obligation to continue to fight for the inviolability of life and against the culture of death.”
This was the warning of the President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, against capital punishment. He said this in a message sent on occasion of the ceremony awarding the "Abolitionist of the Year 2009” Prize, given by Hands Off Cain to the Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, and Parliamentarian Gail Chasey.
Chasey successfully fought to have the death penalty abolished in New Mexico on March 18, 2009. Governor Richardson signed the abolition into law and did not veto it, as was recently done by the Governor of Connecticut.
Napolitano expressed appreciation for the work of Hands Off Cain, "who with tenacity continues to fight for the abolition of the death penalty around the world."
"Italy has always been first in line against the death penalty. Thanks to the commitment from Italian institutions, civil society and associations like “Hands Off Cain”, the United Nations General Assembly succeeded in 2007 in adopting a historic resolution for the moratorium on the death penalty. The choice to award the “Abolitionist of the Year" prize to the Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, and New Mexico Parliamentarian, Gail Chasey, is the proper acknowledgement for their contribution to this struggle. I therefore applaud their determination and their courage that achieved the abolition of capital punishment in the State of New Mexico.
I warn that we have an obligation to join those who continue to fight for the inviolability of life and against the culture of death,” Napolitano concluded.
“Governor Bill Richardson was too intelligent and empathetic not to support us.” With these words, Chasey began to describe her struggle that pushed New Mexico to abolish the death penalty. Her state became the second American state in more than forty years to abolish capital punishment, after New Jersey did so in December 2007.
“The long 12 year battle that we fought in New Mexico was won with the help of more than 100 organisations, which formed in our State over the years to support us.” It was also thanks to the help of NGO’s like “Hands Off Cain”, Chasey said. She made an effusive homage to the Italian NGO that, from 1993, gave significant support around the world against the death penalty. This culminated in 2007 with the UN approval of the Resolution for the Universal Moratorium on capital punishment.
"Some external factors helped us: like the conviction, that is increasingly widespread, that the death penalty is not a deterrent, as well as the cost of the complex trials of those sentenced to capital punishment”, Chasey said. She received the prize from Senator Emma Bonino at the Radical Party headquarters in Rome. Also present were Marco Pannella, Sergio D'Elia and Elisabetta Zamparutti, the President, Secretary and Treasurer of "Hands Off Cain” respectively.
"We were also helped by President Barack Obama, who carried in the House and the Senate of New Mexico a majority of progressives. But most of all we were helped by the determination and hope of the people, that is even stronger in the other American states that still use the death penalty.” (Sources: Apcom, 29/07/2009)