« L'exécution de M. Leal García place les États-Unis dans une situation de violation du droit international », a dit Mme Pillay, qui est actuellement en mission officielle au Mexique. « Ce que l'État du Texas a fait dans ce cas est imputable en droit aux États-Unis et engage la responsabilité internationale des Etats-Unis. Je suis très déçue que ni le Conseil des grâces du Texas, ni le gouverneur n'aient pris les mesures qui leur étaient offertes pour empêcher que cette violation des obligations des États-Unis en vertu du droit international ne se produise ».
Mme Pillay avait écrit au gouverneur du Texas, lui demandant de commuer la condamnation à mort de M. Leal Garcia en peine de prison à vie, avait indiqué la semaine dernière le Haut commissariat des Nations Unies aux droits de l'Homme (HCDH).
Au-delà de la position habituelle de l'ONU contre la peine de mort, cette affaire soulève des questions juridiques particulières, alors que M. Leal García n'a pas eu accès à un agent consulaire, ce qui, en tant que ressortissant étranger, était son droit en vertu de l'article 36 de la Convention de Vienne sur les relations consulaires. L'absence d'assistance consulaire soulève la question de savoir si son droit à un procès équitable, garanti par le Pacte international relatif aux droits civils et politiques de 1966 et contraignant pour les Etats-Unis, a été pleinement respecté, estime le HCDH.
En 2004, la Cour internationale de Justice (CIJ) avait rendu une décision stipulant que les Etats-Unis devaient revoir et reconsidérer le cas de 51 ressortissants mexicains condamnés à mort - notamment le cas de M. Leal García - car ils n'avaient pas reçu de services consulaires.
« L'exécution d'aujourd'hui minera le rôle de la Cour internationale de justice, et ses ramifications sont susceptibles de s'étendre bien au-delà du Texas », a estimé Mme Pillay. « C'est aussi la responsabilité de tous les pays fédéraux de s'assurer que tous les Etats individuellement respectent les obligations internationales assumées par le pays dans son ensemble ».
Le gouvernement fédéral américain avait déposé un dossier devant la Cour suprême en appui à la demande de suspension de l'exécution de M. Leal García, soulignant les implications internationales d'une telle exécution. La Cour suprême, par une majorité de 5 contre 4, a rejeté la demande, notant que dans les années ayant suivi le jugement de la CIJ, le Congrès américain n'avait pas réussi à adopter une loi prévoyant un recours à de telles violations de la Convention de Vienne. «Le Congrès fédéral doit aussi assumer ses responsabilités et agir pour remédier à cette lacune dans le droit américain que cette affaire a de nouveau malheureusement révélé afin de prévenir sa récurrence dans l'avenir».
Source : ONU



John RUDOLF, « Humberto Leal Garcia Executed In Texas After Obama Administration Argued For Stay», HuffingtonPost, 7 July 2011

Humberto Leal Garcia, 38, convicted of the rape and murder of a 16-year-old San Antonio girl in 1994, was executed by lethal injection at the Texas death chamber in Huntsville.
A U.N.-backed tribunal court ruled in 2004 that Garcia was one of dozens of Mexican nationals sentenced to death by U.S. courts who had been denied their right to legal help from the Mexican consulate. The U.S. is party to a U.N. treaty granting the right of consular assistance to all foreigners charged with a crime.
The U.N. court's decision was endorsed by President George W. Bush, but rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that only Congress had the power to compel states to review the cases of the condemned men.
Legislation to compel state courts to review the cases was introduced in June by Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but no action has been taken on the bill yet.
In a decision late Thursday afternoon, the Supreme Court narrowly rejected a petition by U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr., who stated in a brief that Garcia's execution violated international law and could do "irreparable harm" to U.S. foreign policy interests.
Verrilli argued that the court should grant Garcia a stay of execution until Congress could vote on Sen. Leahy's legislation.
In a 5-4 decision, the court rejected his argument. "Our task is to rule on what the law is, not what it might eventually be," the unsigned majority decision declared. A dissent by Justice Stephen Breyer, however, said that the majority was "wrong in each respect" in its decision to reject the petition.
The involvement of the White House in the case was particularly striking due to the heinous nature of Garcia's crime. He was convicted of bludgeoning 16-year-old Adria Sauceda to death after violating her with a tree branch. Both forensic evidence and witness statements tied Garcia to the crime; in statements to police, he acknowledged fighting with Sauceda and pushing her to the ground, where he said she hit her head.
Even so, a number of retired military officers, diplomats and prominent Republicans, including Laurence Wilkerson, a retired U.S. Army colonel and former chief of staff to Gen. Colin Powell, also backed the appeal, noting that maintaining the integrity of an international treaty protecting the legal rights of Americans abroad was more important than delivering swift justice to one criminal, no matter how depraved.
Donald J. Guter, a retired rear admiral in the Navy's Judge Advocate General Corps, who signed a letter endorsing the Obama administration's appeal, called the case "terrible" and said he had "no sympathy" for Garcia.
"I'm looking to protect American citizens and American service members who travel overseas, and making sure they have the protection of the treaty," said Guter, now president and dean of the South Texas College of Law.
"I think we need to take a step back and ask what principle is at stake here, and what's best for American citizens," he said.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry declined to intervene in the Garcia case, and the Texas Board of Paroles and Pardons voted on Tuesday to allow the execution to proceed. "Texas is not bound by a foreign court's ruling," said Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for Perry. "If you commit the most heinous of crimes in Texas, you can expect to face the ultimate penalty under our laws."
Garcia was the seventh inmate put to death in Texas this year.
At least one prominent Republican directly criticized Perry, who is being courted by conservative activists to enter the 2012 presidential race, for failing to intervene in the case.
"I think his position is a parochial position," said John B. Bellinger III, the State Department's top attorney under President George W. Bush. "It's undercutting the ability of the State Department to protect all Americans, including Texans, when we travel outside the United States."
Whether the outcome of the case will impact Perry's national ambitions is questionable, however -- particularly since Garcia had some important final words. In the moments before his execution, Garcia confessed to his crimes, adding a final twist to his lengthy legal saga, which had spanned more than 15 years and dozens of appeals and decisions by courts from San Antonio to The Hague. Since his arrest, he had steadfastly denied raping and murdering Sauceda. "I am sorry for the victim's family for what I had did," he said. "May they forgive me."