Estonian opposition member protests the execution of Saddam Hussein

  • 2006-11-08
  • By TBT staff
Urmas Reinsalu, chairman of the constitutional committee of the Estonian parliament, said that he shared the opinion of other European Union countries' and officially criticized the death penalty handed down to Saddam Hussein, the daily Eesti Paevaleht reported. Reinsalu said isolated cases could not retreat from the general principles of the administration of justice and that the countries of the European Union were against capital punishment in times of peace, including the death penalty to Saddam Hussein. The opposition politician added that indignant statements by the Vatican and the European Union were only expressions of opinions not meant to achieve any legal changes. The Finnish presidency of the European Union said that the EU did not support execution of Saddam Hussein's death sentence. In the opinion of the EU capital punishments should not be carried out even in the case of such serious crimes. Reinsalu's statements do not mean that the Estonian government officially hopes the punishment will be revised and the sentence not carried out.