Minister of Justice Jacques M'Bosso meets the Radical Party delegation

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: GOVERNMENT ADOPTS BILL ABOLITIONIST ON THE EVE OF THE MISSION OF HANDS OFF CAIN

October 26, 2012: On the first day of the mission of the Radical Party delegation composed of the Secretary of Hands Off Cain Sergio D`Elia and MPs Marco Perduca and Elizabeth Zamparutti (Non Violent Radical Party) in Bangui in the Central African Republic, the Radicals were greeted by the news that the Council of Ministers had approved on 9 October a bill to abolish the death penalty in the Criminal Code. To inform D'Elia, Zamparutti and Perduca was the Minister of Justice Jacques M'Bosso that expressed the will of the country to sign up to become one of the protagonists of the abolitionist process going on in the world. The Minister also announced that shortly the text will be sent to the National Assembly for its final adoption underlining the importance of starting at the same time a campaign to raise public awareness.
The Radical delegation then met with the Committee of reflection for the abolition of the death penalty - a group of judges, lawyers, directors general of ministries and of the three main religions set as a result of the participation of the Central African Republic to the Conference  on the Death Penalty organized by HOC and the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, in October 2011 in Kigali.
The Committee, chaired by Dominique Banguindji-Said, during the meeting decided to expand its objectives including the demand to the government to vote in favor of the UN resolution on the universal moratorium on the death penalty.
This was followed by a meeting with the High Commissioner for Human Rights Abacar Dieudonné Nyakanda who confirmed the commitments made by the country in front of the UN Human Rights Council for the abolition of the death penalty and the ratification of the Second Optional Protocol the International Covenant on civil and Political Rights.
Particularly positive were also the words of the President of the National Assembly Célestin Leroy Gaombalet who said he was aware that the CAR should not remain on the fringes of global processes such as the one toward the abolition although much remains to be done on the society where the country is long overdue.
The Radical delegation was then audited by the Justice and the Human Rights committees in the National Assembly, where it presented the reasons for its mission and was confronted with the questions and concerns of the 20 MPs present, who all declared themselves abolitionists.
In particular, the need has arisen to provide as much information as possible on the national and international context in order to prepare the ground for the eventual abolition of the death penalty. At the end of the day, the Radicals have also updated the Delegation of the European Union. (Sources: HOC, 26/10/2012)