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Amnesty International Report 2009 - Saint Kitts and Nevis

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Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by Cuthbert Montraville Sebastian
Head of government: Denzil L. Douglas
Death penalty: retentionist
Life expectancy: 70 years
Adult literacy: 97.8 per cent

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A moratorium on executions ended and one man was executed in December.

Death penalty

Executions resumed after a 10-year moratorium. Charles Elroy Laplace was hanged on 19 December. He had been sentenced to death on 30 March 2006 for the killing of his wife in 2004. According to a statement by the Prime Minister, a Notice of Appeal filed with the Court of Appeal was dismissed on 29 October 2008 because it was filed out of time. Concerns were raised as to whether all the avenues of appeal had been satisfactorily exhausted and whether the prisoner's right to apply for an amnesty, pardon or commutation of sentence had been respected.

When he announced the execution in the National Assembly, the Prime Minister defined capital punishment as a "deterrent among our people in taking another man's life". General public support for the resumption of executions increased in response to an upsurge in violent crime.

Press reports indicated that eight prisoners remained on the death row.

In December, Saint Kitts and Nevis voted against a UN General Assembly resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions.

Amnesty International reports

• St Kitts and Nevis: Execution is a shameless act (22 December 2008)

Topics: Death penalty,