Members of the court martial sit during the inauguration to try soldiers accused of mutiny tasked with fighting Boko Haram militants in Abuja on October 2, 2014. Nearly 100 soldiers tasked with fighting Boko Haram militants in Nigeria’s far northeast appeared at a military court martial on Thursday, facing a range of charges including mutiny. The hearing comes just weeks after a tribunal sentenced 12 soldiers to death following their conviction for shooting at their commanding officer in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, in May. AFP PHOTO
The European Union (EU) has rejected the death sentence handed to 12 Nigerian soldiers by the General Court Martial in Nigeria for alleged mutiny.
The EU in a statement issued yesterday on the occasion of the World Day against Death Penalty condemned all death sentences especially after mass trials as was the case with the Nigerian soldiers.
The union, headed by Secretary-General, Mr. Thorbjørn Jagland, argued that execution had stopped in that region of the world for close to two decades
According to the statement: “On the European and World Day against the Death Penalty, the European Union and the Council of Europe reaffirm their strong and absolute opposition to capital punishment in all cases and under all circumstances, and their commitment to its worldwide abolition.
“We are deeply concerned about setbacks in some countries, such as recent mass trials leading to a vast number of death sentences. No execution has taken place in our member states in the last 17 years.
The European Union and the Council of Europe welcome the fact that all Member States of the European Union have now ratified both Protocols 6 and 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights, and urge all other European States that have not yet done so to sign and ratify these instruments which aim at the abolition of the death penalty.”
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