Amnesty Ireland response to execution of Troy Davis

Troy Davis was executed by lethal injection shortly after four am (Irish time) this morning. The execution was delayed for a number of hours as the US Supreme Court considered a last minute appeal.

Colm O’Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland, said: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Troy Davis today. They have lost a brother, an uncle, a cousin. 

”Despite unprecedented calls for mercy from Ireland and around the world the state of Georgia has seen fit to put a man to death despite serious doubts about his guilt. It is an act of utter contempt for the right to life and to justice.

“Troy Davis once wrote, ‘The fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me, but through our strength to move forward’. 

“Today, we draw that strength from a man who spent half of his life in prison for a crime he has always maintained he did not commit, but who died with no bitterness in his heart. 

“His spirit will walk next to the millions of people around the world who will not stop marching, protesting and fighting until the death penalty is abolished once and for all.” 

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