Within the European Day Against The Death Penalty, the “Horizon” group (affiliated with the Young Journalists’ Association “Polis” and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights) organized the series of events.
Firstly, on October 7th about 60 people took part in the screening of the movie “Frances Newton’s Last Words” and in the panel about the death penalty (with Andrzej Rzepliński – a law professor and a judge of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal; Adam Frączek – psychology professor, a former dean of the Maria Grzegorzewska Academy of Special Education, Halina Bortnowska – the President of the Council of HFHR),
Secondly, on October 8th about 40 people watched the movie “17th of August” and discussed the problem “What instead of the death penalty?” with: Marek Łagodziński (the President of the “Sławek” Foundation helping prisoners and people released from prisons), gen. Paweł Nasiłowski (former head of Poland’s prison service), Halina Bortnowska (the President of the Council of HFHR) and Olga Salomatova (who worked in Russian prisons),
Furthermore, on October 10th everyone had an opportunity to visit our street stand labeled “10.10 – European Day, my Day Against the Death Penalty”; on one of the main promenade of Warsaw (Nowy Świat) we installed a table with leaflets and our publication (prepared specially for that day, see: http://przeciwkarzesmierci.blox.pl/strony/broszura.html). Visitors supporting us could sign four different petitions: two letters asking to spare the lives of two Americans: Troy Davis and Reggie Clemons, a general declaration against the death penalty (now available on our website: http://przeciwkarzesmierci.blox.pl/strony/ankieta.html) and the letter to Svetlana Zuk – a Belorusian mother, whose son was executed in March 2010 and who demands from the Belorussian authorities to disclose her a place of his burial (Belarus is the last country in Europe to carry out executions. Both the prisoners and their families don’t know the date of the execution. The prisoner was killed by a shot in the head. The place of his burial is still kept in secrecy). Halina Bortnowska and our young as well as senior volunteers were at Nowy Swiat from 9 a.m. till 9 p.m.
Who we are
“Horizon – against the Death Penalty” is an informal group of protesters against the death penalty in the World, affiliated with the Young Journalists’ Association “Polis” and Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. The impulse for us to act on behalf of a global abolition of the death penalty came when Poland, as the only state in the European Union, raised an objection against establishment of the European Day Against the Death Penalty. In 2007, 2008 and 2009 gathered around Halina Bortnowska, together with Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Amnesty International, the Information Office of the Council of Europe and Association ‘Open Republic’, we co-organize the Polish celebration of the European Day Against the Death Penalty. In February 2010 we decided to develop our one-day action into a twenty months long campaign on behalf of global abolition and we launched “Horizon”.
Our main to goals are to strengthen the society’s support for the fact that there is no death penalty in the European Union. Horizon group also aims at supporting all efforts towards abolition of death penalty in any place where it is still practiced.
What we have already achieved
Apart from organizing the celebration of the European Day against the Death Penalty 2010, we managed to:
1. start a two-semester-long course for abolitionists called “Human rights and the death penalty in XXI century”. This course is an opportunity for 22 young persons (mostly students) to spread knowledge about human rights and the death penalty; to learn how to act effectively in the public interest. In the second semester they will organize their own events on behalf of the abolition which became a part of the campaign of the “Horizon”,
2. organize film screenings and discussions – we cooperate with students circles and non-governmental institutions to discuss about the penalty with people who continue to support it,
3. involve in our actions seniors as volunteers – we cooperate with the “Universities for seniors” in Warsaw to encourage them to join our action,
4. spread our action on the new group and environments – our initiative is open for any abolitionists, we are proud to have volunteers and supporters also in Polish prisons.
As an informal group, our efforts focus mostly on volunteer work, however our actions wouldn’t be possible without a grant from the Open Society Institute and the Batory Foundation and the Association of the Creative Initiatives “ę” (project Seniors in Action).
We invite everyone to contact us and cooperate with us.
Contact:
(48) 503 775 339
10xabolicja@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/abolicja
www.przeciwkarzesmierci.blox.pl
