(23 Jul 1997) Italian/Eng/Nat
Italians held eleventh-hour demonstrations against the planned execution of Joseph O'Dell in Rome on Wednesday.
At the same time a parliamentary committee moved to strike reference to the death penalty from the Italian constitution.
O'Dell's execution is planned for 0100 GMT Thursday in Richmond, Virginia.
Some have not given up hope on the life of Joseph O'Dell, condemned to death for raping, sodomising and murdering a woman in 1985
A final protest in front of the US Embassy in Rome organised by the "Hands off Cain" association gathered Parliament members, human rights activists and hundreds of other Italians.
An evening vigil in a central Rome piazza was also planned to last until the execution time.
Organisers were setting up a giant television screen so protesters could follow live coverage by Italian state television, from outside the prison walls.
The O'Dell case has drawn widespread attention in Italy, and has become a rallying point for the broad opposition to capital punishment here.
Pope John Paul the Second, Mother Teresa, the Italian government and Parliament have appealed to US authorities not to carry out the sentence.
Thousands of Italians have sent electronic mail messages to Virginia Governor George Allen asking for clemency.
Vatican Radio on Wednesday called the case "emblematic of the
tragedy of thousands of pending death sentences and, unfortunately,
in continual occurrence in various countries of the world."
SOUNDBITE: (Italian)
"I have decided to support him because we should support anyone sentenced to death. O'Dell is only one case of a person who we don't whether he is guilty or innocent. But there are thousands of other people who are awaiting the same fate as O'Dell. We are going to be here until the last minute until the sentences is commuted. We want it for him, we want it for everyone who in this moment is waiting for death."
SUPER CAPTION: Voxpop, protester
The group Hands off Cain do not believe they will save O'Dell, but are fighting for all those on death row.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We think that if we can solve the case of Joseph O'Dell, we can solve also other cases about other death row inmates."
SUPER CAPTION: Voxpop, protester
Italy does not have the death penalty. The last vestige of capital punishment, allowed in the military code for certain wartime crimes, was abolished by law in 1994.
However, the provision remains in the constitution.
Parliament's constitutional committee said Wednesday it would consider a measure to strike the reference.
The only thing that could now save the life of is a last minute reprieve.
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