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This News Service is posted by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International,
1 Easton Street, London WC1X 8DJ
(Tel +44-71-413-5500, Fax +44-71-956-1157)
Sender: Amnesty_International@post.io.org
AMNESTY-L:

Amnesty International holds press conference in Atlanta, during the 1996 Olympic Games, to release report exposing the racist application of the death penalty in Georgia

Press release by Amnesty International
9 July 1996

Contacts: Karen Pomer 404-876-5661

Roger Rathman 212-633-4208

Secretary General of Amnesty International, Pierre Sane, to present report and a half-million signatures protesting the death penalty

Atlanta, July 9 - Amnesty International (AI) will hold a press conference in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday, July 23 at 10:00 a.m. to release its report, The Death Penalty in Georgia: Racist, Arbitrary and Unfair. In tribute to the unwavering commitment to civil and human rights demonstrated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during his lifetime, the press conference will be held at the historic Paschal Center located at 830 M.L. King Jr. Drive in Atlanta.

Georgia officials, in their bid to host the 1996 Olympic Games, stated that the City of Atlanta, ~embodies the values of human liberty and equality as well as any city on earth. As the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement, and for many the modern capital for human rights, Atlanta reflects the high ideals of Olympism.~ Amnesty International believes these claims are contradicted by Georgia~s violation of basic human rights, the use of the death penalty.

In addition to the release of the report, the following are highlights of the Amnesty International Actions Against the Death Penalty during the 1996 Olympic Games:

• An educational and organizing tour of AI anti-death penalty activists. The tour will visit cities and towns in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. Tour participants will include representatives from nine European AI Sections and Mexico as well as family members of murder victims and those on death row.
• A letter campaign from mayors of former Olympic Games cities protesting the ongoing use of the death penalty in Georgia.
• A petition campaign, numbering close to 500,000 signatures from concerned people around the world calling on Georgia~s governor to declare a moratorium on all pending executions and to take steps to commute all death sentences in the State of Georgia.
• A series of meetings between AI Secretary General Pierre Sane and civil rights, business and community leaders in Atlanta to discuss the death penalty as an important human rights concern.