21 September 2006 :

For Marco Pannella, President of Hands Off Cain, the organisation’s Secretary Sergio D’Elia and Treasurer Elisabetta Zamparutti, the statement, “We are against the death penalty”, contained in Prime Minster Romano Prodi’s speech at the UN General Assembly, is the government’s way of preparing itself to do less than Berlusconi’s government did in 2003.
“The few and unfocused words used by the Premier demonstrate that, due to inaction, the government is once again on the brink of impeding an historic victory, that of a pronouncement in favour of a universal moratorium on executions by the UN General Assembly with a view to complete abolishment of the death penalty,” Hands Off Cain’s representatives stated.         
“Despite the clear and by now unequivocal data demonstrating that such a text would be approved by an overwhelming majority (with between 95 and 107 votes in favour and only 61 to 68 votes against), Italy is again looking for approval from the European Union, which is not there, and thus backtracking on the commitments the Italian Government made in parliament last July 27.
“In today’s climate more than ever, it is necessary to avoid defining the issue as a European and western one and to try instead to create alliances with states representative of all continents.”