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| The information on this webpage was compiled by the CCADP without the previous knowledge or consent of the prisoner. The CCADP is refusing to remove any Arizona prisoner materials from the internet until the law banning prisoners from the internet has been challenged and defeated, to ensure ALL Arizona death row prisoners are allowed to have their voices heard... Prisoners contacting the CCADP for removal under threats from the DOC receive a copy of the following: CLICK HERE |
| Under, the Vienna Convention
on Consular Rights, the U.S. government has the obligation of informing
any foreign citizen arrested on U.S. soil of their consular rights, but
often violates the convention.
The arresting Arizona authorities violated US obligations under international lawin their failure to comply with the notification provisions of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Vienna Convention on Consular Relations adopted by the U.N. |
| International Court of Justice
Condemns the U.S. For past Vienna Convention violations in Arizona
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has its seat in The Hague, is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. LAGRAND CASE (GERMANY v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) " The Court finds that the United States has breached its obligations to Germany and to the LaGrand brothers under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations The Court finds, for the first time in its history, that orders indicating provisional measures are legally binding." - Judgment of June 27, 2001 Regarding the Execution of the LaGrand Brothers in Arizona |
| Jose Jacobo Amaya Ruiz, from El
Salvador, was to be executed on 18 January
in Arizona. Sentenced to death in 1986 for murder, he has since been diagnosed as suffering from manic depression and paranoid schizophrenia. His execution was stopped by a federal US District Judge, who ruled that he was entitled to a federal hearing to determine his competency. Jose Amaya Ruiz's lawyer thanks all those who sent appeals on his behalf. |
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION APPEAL
Jose Jacobo Amaya Ruiz, Salvadoran national, aged 41
4 January 2001 - Death penalty / Legal concern: USA (Arizona)
Jose Amaya Ruiz is due to
be executed in Arizona on 18 January 2001. He was sentenced to death in
1986 for the murder of Kimberly Lopez, who was killed at her home on 28
March 1985. Amaya Ruiz,
an illegal immigrant from
El Salvador, was employed by Lopez and her husband on their ranch near
Tucson.
Since 1985, Jose Amaya Ruiz has been diagnosed as suffering from various mental illnesses, including bipolar disorder (manic depression) and paranoid schizophrenia. He suffers from auditory and visual hallucinations, delusions and paranoid ideation. He has been treated with anti-psychotic medication for more than a decade, although he has sometimes refused treatment, either because he believed that he was not ill or that the drugs were poison. In 1985, a psychologist for the state estimated Amaya Ruiz's IQ to be in the region of 65-75, indicating a learning disability.
Jose Amaya Ruiz has made
numerous suicide attempts, both during pre-trial detention and since his
conviction. He has also engaged in acts of self-mutilation with razor blades
and other sharp objects. His
behaviour has included banging
his head, throwing urine and faeces, and spending weeks in his cell naked
and surrounded by his own waste.
In 1999, a prison doctor concluded that Jose Amaya Ruiz understood neither the reason for, nor the reality of his death sentence, and was therefore legally insane and could not be executed. A second doctor, to whom Jose Amaya Ruiz explained that 'they don't kill people here, they just treat them badly', also said that the prisoner was incompetent for execution.
In 2000, Jose Amaya Ruiz
was moved to hospital and remained under mental health care. On 30 August,
a doctor at the hospital determined that Amaya Ruiz was competent to be
executed. On 17
November, he was transferred
back to a special psychiatric unit on death row. Amnesty International
believes it violates medical ethics to treat a prisoner with a view to
restoring competency for execution.
American Medical Association
policy states: 'When a condemned prisoner has been declared incompetent
to be executed, physicians should not treat the prisoner for the purpose
of restoring competence unless a commutation order is issued before treatment
begins'.
Jose Amaya Ruiz is one of
about 90 foreign nationals on death row in the USA. As in the majority
of these cases, Jose Amaya Ruiz was not informed upon arrest of his right
to contact his consulate for assistance. As such, the arresting authorities
violated US obligations under international law in their failure to comply
with the notification provisions of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention
on Consular
Relations.
Jose Amaya Ruiz is believed
to have first come to the USA in 1984, the year before his arrest. The
extent of his exposure to the war and political violence in El Salvador
at the time he lived there is not
known, both because his
trial lawyer was unable to investigate this, and because his mental impairment
renders him a poor reporter of his life history. Two of his brothers were
killed in the violence, and he
has recalled burying the
dead in his village with his hands because he had no spade. His own body
bears the scars of bullet wounds, as yet unexplained.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The United Nations Safeguards
Guaranteeing Protection of the Rights of Those Facing the Death Penalty,
adopted in 1984, prohibit the execution of prisoners 'who have become insane'.
The US
organization, the National
Alliance for the Mentally Ill, opposes the use of the death penalty against
defendants with serious mental disorders. The widely held belief that the
execution of the mentally
impaired flouts basic standards
of justice and decency is reflected in a resolution adopted on 26 April
2000 by the UN Commission on Human Rights, urging all retentionist countries
'not to impose the
death penalty on a person
suffering from any form of mental disorder or to execute any such person'.
It is nearly 12 years since the UN adopted a resolution recommending that
UN member states eliminate
the death penalty 'for persons
suffering from mental retardation or extremely limited mental competence,
whether at the stage of sentence or execution'.
In 1999, Arizona executed
two German nationals, Karl and Walter LaGrand, who had not been advised
of their consular rights, causing widespread international outrage. The
German government took the
case to the International
Court of Justice (ICJ), which heard arguments from the German and US governments
in November 2000. The ICJ has yet to rule on the case.
The Arizona Governor can grant clemency if the clemency board recommends he or she do so, but can also ignore such a recommendation. In the case of Walter LaGrand, Governor Hull not only ignored an ICJ order for a stay of execution, but also the board's recommendation for a 60-day reprieve.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please send faxes/express/airmail letters, in your own words, using the
following guide:
- acknowledging the seriousness
of the crime for which Jose Amaya
Ruiz was convicted and expressing
sympathy for the family of
Kimberly Lopez;
- expressing concern that
the State of Arizona is planning to execute
Jose Amaya Ruiz despite
his history of serious mental illness and
evidence of mental retardation,
in violation of international standards
of justice;
- arguing that it violates
medical ethics to treat a prisoner with a view
to restoring competency
for execution, noting the American Medical
Association's policy;
- expressing concern that
the arresting authorities violated
international law when they
failed to inform Jose Amaya Ruiz of his
consular rights;
- reminding the authorities
of the damage done to the USA's
reputation by the execution
in Arizona of two German nationals in
1999;
- calling for clemency and
urging that Jose Amaya Ruiz's death
sentence be commuted in
the name of decency, compassion, and
human rights, even in the
event of a court-issued stay of execution.
APPEALS TO:
Kathyrn D. Brown, Chairperson
Arizona Board of Executive
Clemency
1645 West Jefferson, No.
326
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Fax: 1 602 542 5680
Salutation: Dear Chairperson
The Honorable Jane Hull
Governor of Arizona
1700 West Washington
Phoenix, Arizona 85007
Fax:
1 602 542 1381
E-mail: (via website) http://www.governor.state.az.us/feedback.html
Salutation: Dear Governor
You may also write brief
letters (not more than 250 words) to:
The Editor, Arizona Republic,
120 East Van Buren St, PO Box 1950,
Phoenix, AZ 85001 Fax: 1
602 271 8500.
E-mail: via the newspaper's
website:
http://www.azcentral.com/opinions/letter.shtml
Letters to the Editor, Arizona
Daily Star, PO Box 26887 Tucson, AZ
85726 Fax: 1 520 573 4141.
E-mail: letters@azstarnet.com
Letters to the Editor, Tucson
Citizen, PO Box 26767, Tucson, AZ
85726, USA Fax: + 1 520
573-4569. E-mail:
letters@tucsoncitizen.com
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
STAY RECEIVED !
Jose received a 23 page order from the District Court on Friday.
The court held the Arizona
Competency to be executed statute unconstitutional,
granted our request for
a stay, and set a status conference for Feb. 22.
This information is from
Amnesty International's research headquarters in London, England. A.I.
is an independent worldwide movement working for the international protection
of human rights. It seeks the release of people detained because of their
beliefs, color, sex, ethnic origin, language or religious creed, provided
they have not used nor advocated violence. These are termed prisoners of
conscience. It works for fair and prompt trials for all political prisoners
and works on behalf of such people detained without charge or trial. It
opposes the death penalty, extra-judicial executions (political killings),
'disappearances' and torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment of all prisoners without reservation. Amnesty International
promotes awareness of and adherance to the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and other internationally recognized human rights instruments, the
values enshrined in them and the indivisibility and interdependence of
all human rights and freedoms.
Urgent Action Network Amnesty
International USA, PO Box 1270, Nederland CO 80466-1270, Email: sharriso@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgact/
Phone: 303 258 1170 Fax: 303 258 7881
Taken from: http://www.geocities.com/azlibdis/ib2258.html
Amaya-Ruiz, Jose #057279
Arizona State Prison
Eyman, SMU-2 Unit
PO Box 3400
Florence Arizona
85232 USA
The CCADP offers free webpages to over 500 Death Row Prisoners
Contact us for more information.
"The Eyes Of The World Are Watching Now"