Contact: Natalie Butz, [email protected], 202-675-8761, @AIUSAmedia
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – In response to announcement that federal prosecutors would seek the death penalty in the case of surviving Boston Marathon bomber suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Steven W. Hawkins, executive director of Amnesty International USA issued the following statement:
“We are deeply disappointed that Federal prosecutors have decided to seek the death penalty against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Capital punishment contributes to a cycle of violence and it is outrageous that as the world moves away from the death penalty, the U.S. Federal Government has decided to seek a death sentence.”
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million members in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.