LUSAKA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government should completely remove the death penalty from its statute books so that the country joins other countries that have abolished it, the country's human rights body said on Tuesday.
While commending the government for not executing anyone for the past 23 years, the Human Rights Commission (HRC) believes that the government needs to move a step further by abolishing it.
Mweelwa Muleya, the human rights body spokesperson said the government should be encouraged to ensure that the country successfully graduates into the growing number of countries that have abolished the death penalty both in law and in practice.
"To this end, the commission is calling for members of the public and various stakeholders to make submissions to the Zambia Law Development Commission to appropriately amend the penal code and the criminal procedure acts in order to enhance respect for the right to life," he said in a statement.
According to him, the mandatory death sentence for the crime of treason, murder and aggravated robbery must be amended to give discretionary powers to the judiciary based on merits of each case.
Zambia carried the last execution in 1997. Enditem
