Mexico asks World Court to stay executions in US
June 5, 2008, 3:06PM
Mexico asks World Court to stay executions in US
By ARTHUR MAX Associated Press Writer
© 2008 The Associated Press
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — Mexico appealed to the U.N.'s highest court Thursday to block the executions of Mexicans in the United States, arguing U.S. officials have failed to comply with a judgment ordering a review of their trials.
The International Court of Justice said Mexico asked the court for an "interpretation" of an earlier ruling to clarify its meaning when it asked the U.S. to "review and reconsider" the cases of the condemned prisoners.
Until that can be done, Mexico said the United States "must take any and all steps necessary" to ensure that none of its citizens is executed, and asked the court to take urgent measures to intercede.
The court, informally known as the World Court, ruled in 2004 that the convictions of some 50 Mexicans on death row around the United States violated the 1963 Vienna Convention, which provides that people arrested abroad can have access to their home country's consular officials.
The court, which sits in The Hague, said the Mexicans should have new hearings in U.S. courts to determine whether the violation affected their cases.
President Bush accepted the judgment and asked state courts to review the cases. Texas refused.
Jose Medellin, a 33-year-old inmate condemned in the gang rape and murder of two teenage girls 15 years ago, appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court on the basis of the World Court's ruling.
The Supreme Court rejected the appeal March 25, saying Bush had overstepped his authority when he ordered the courts to carry out the decision from The Hague and review the prisoners' cases.
The Constitution "allows the president to execute the laws, not make them," said the majority opinion
Medellin's execution has been set for Aug. 5.
Mexico asked the court to issue an immediate injunction against the execution and those of four other Mexican-born inmates. In its request, Mexico said it was still in dispute with the United States over "the scope and meaning" of the 2004 ruling.
The Mexican request said the court's ruling implied that some actual review must result, but the U.S. government says it has already complied.
The U.S. obligation to follow international law also applies to individual states, Mexico argued in its application to the court.
"The United States cannot invoke municipal law as justification for failure to perform its international legal obligations," it said.
A World Court spokeswoman said the 15-judge court would convene soon to weigh Mexico's request to halt the executions.
The International Court of Justice is the U.N.'s judicial arm for resolving legal disputes among member states. Its decisions are binding and not subject to appeal, but are not always obeyed.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5821070.html
