Written declaration No. 569 | Doc. 13474 | 07 April 2014

Protest against the death penalty for activists of the Muslim Brotherhood

Signatories: Mr Andrzej HALICKI, Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr Volodymyr ARIEV, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Ms Theodora BAKOYANNIS, Greece, EPP/CD ; Mr Robert BIEDROŃ, Poland, SOC ; Mr Marek BOROWSKI, Poland, SOC ; Ms Beata BUBLEWICZ, Poland, EPP/CD ; Ms Lolita ČIGĀNE, Latvia, EPP/CD ; Mr Jim D'ARCY, Ireland, EPP/CD ; Ms Ismeta DERVOZ, Bosnia and Herzegovina, EPP/CD ; Mr Şaban DİŞLİ, Turkey, EPP/CD ; Mr Bernd FABRITIUS, Germany, EPP/CD ; Mr Axel FISCHER, Germany, EPP/CD ; Ms Iryna GERASHCHENKO, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Valeriu GHILETCHI, Republic of Moldova, EPP/CD ; Mr Jarosław GÓRCZYŃSKI, Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr Jürgen HARDT, Germany, EPP/CD ; Mr Michael HENNRICH, Germany, EPP/CD ; Ms Françoise HETTO-GAASCH, Luxembourg, EPP/CD ; Mr Tadeusz IWIŃSKI, Poland, SOC ; Mr Gordan JANDROKOVIĆ, Croatia, EPP/CD ; Ms Stella KYRIAKIDES, Cyprus, EPP/CD ; Ms Inese LĪBIŅA-EGNERE, Latvia, EPP/CD ; Mr Frano MATUŠIĆ, Croatia, EPP/CD ; Ms Olivia MITCHELL, Ireland, EPP/CD ; Mr Rubén MORENO PALANQUES, Spain, EPP/CD ; Mr Joseph O'REILLY, Ireland, EPP/CD ; Ms Liisa-Ly PAKOSTA, Estonia, EPP/CD ; Ms Gabriela PECKOVÁ, Czech Republic, EPP/CD ; Ms Foteini PIPILI, Greece, EPP/CD ; Mr Stanislav POLČÁK, Czech Republic, EPP/CD ; Ms Marietta de POURBAIX-LUNDIN, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Mr Cezar Florin PREDA, Romania, EPP/CD ; Mr Serhiy SOBOLEV, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Marc SPAUTZ, Luxembourg, EPP/CD ; Ms Karin STRENZ, Germany, EPP/CD ; Mr Spyridon TALIADOUROS, Greece, EPP/CD ; Mr Konstantinos TZAVARAS, Greece, EPP/CD ; Mr Volker ULLRICH, Germany, EPP/CD ; Mr Piotr WACH, Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr Karl-Georg WELLMANN, Germany, EPP/CD ; Mr Tobias ZECH, Germany, EPP/CD

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

We observed the events of the Arab Spring with anxiety, hope and joy. We admired the determination, courage and dedication of Egyptians in their struggle for the civil rights they deserved. The attention of the international public was focused on Egypt.

The attention and engagement of the international public was certainly an important factor which contributed to the victory of the Egyptian society over the authoritarian and non-accepted State authorities.

However, the civic victory did not bring lasting stability to Egypt. We do not intend to declare support for any of the parties of the political conflict in Egypt, but we are most astonished and concerned about the manner of conducting the trial and the sentence passed against activists of the Muslim Brotherhood. Sentencing 529 people in one brief show trial is an event without precedent in the modern world and bears the features of a judicial murder.

We believe that using the death penalty as a tool in the fight against political opponents cannot be accepted by the international community.

The undersigned members of the Parliamentary Assembly appeal to the Egyptian authorities – and to the authorities of all States whose law allows the death penalty – to introduce a moratorium on the use of the capital punishment.