PiS calls for death penalty

2nd December 2011

There was controversy this week as Law and Justice called for the re-establishment of the death penalty for “exceptionally cruel murders” despite adamant opposition from the Catholic Church.

“We would like to reinstate the death penalty for exceptionally cruel murders, and in general, increase the punishment for murders,” said Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, as reported by news station TVN24.

“The state is there to protect honest citizens and fight crime with determination and, if need be, through the use of very tough measures,” the PiS chief added.

Law and Justice has always made fighting crime a central tenant of its existence but the call for the death penalty marked a more radical departure from its conventional script.

The last execution took place in 1988, after which a moratorium came into effect, with the death penalty finally being scrubbed from the statute books in 1998.

Although since then various politicians, including the late President Lech Kaczynski, have raised the idea of bringing it back, the idea has always crashed head on into the Catholic Church and its steadfast opposition to the death penalty on moral grounds.

And on this occasion too, the proposal has drawn immediate criticism.

“A politician who declares a commitment to Catholic values but at the same time declares himself a supporter of the death penalty is against the Church,” Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek told the news magazine Wprost. “Such a person goes against Christianity.”

Even Pope Benedict took it upon himself to remind the faithful of the Church’s opposition to the death penalty.

But despite the high-ranking and influential criticism, PiS remains determined to push for executions.

“I believe that in the public realm authorities have a certain amount of autonomy,” said Adam Hofman, spokesman for the party. “While I listen to the voice of the Catholic Church, as a politician I believe the case for the death penalty should be stressed.”

PiS also dismissed another potential source of opposition - the European Union.

“There are no provisions in the EU that prohibit the death penalty,” said Mr Kaczynski. “Just because the elites of the EU are against it doesn’t mean we have to be. We are a sovereign state.”

But Poland has already ratified Protocol 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which restricts the application of the death penalty to time of war or the “imminent threat of war”.

This, combined with the opposition of other parties, including the governing Civic Platform (PO), means that the PiS call could struggle to make serious political headway.