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| Fire999 |
Here's an except from my home country..sad but true...The question is: Should Capital Punishment be Aolished from the face of the Earth? Maybe in the next 5000 years...at least for Singapore...
The Straits Time, Friday March 22, 5:00 PM
German facing execution on drug charges denied bail in Singapore
A German woman who faces the death sentence if convicted of drug charges in Singapore was denied bail during a court appearance.
Julia Suzanne Bohl, 23, sat silently Friday with three Singaporean co-accused as the judge confirmed with their lawyer that they were aware of the drug trafficking charges against them.
Bohl, who was wearing a purple sleeveless shirt and had her hair tied into a ponytail, was not asked to plead.
A student who has lived in Singapore for several years, Bohl is charged with possessing 687 grams (24 ounces) of marijuana "for the purpose of trafficking."
The volume exceeds the 500-gram minimum required for the mandatory death penalty, which is carried out by hanging, according to the Central Narcotics Bureau, which made the arrests.
Under a "presumption clause" in Singapore's Misuse of Drugs Act, anyone caught in possession of a certain amount of a specified drug is presumed to be trafficking in the substance.
Bohl has also been charged with consumption of Ketamine which carries a maximum sentence of a 20,000 Singapore dollar (11,000 US) fine and 10 years imprisonment.
Bohl's father, accompanied by an official from the German embassy, sat grim-faced in the court during the proceedings, at times craning his neck to get a glimpse of his daugher who was surrounded by uniformed guards.
"I'm feeling very bad," Wolfgang Bohl told reporters afterwards. Asked if he was optimistic about the case, he declined to comment further.
Bohl's lawyer, Michael Eu, also declined to talk to reporters, including about a dozen from German publications and broadcast agencies, who mobbed him and Wolfgang Bohl outside the court.
Julia Bohl was arrested March 13 during a raid on a downtown apartment which police said was used to supply drugs to bars and nightclubs.
According to local media reports, she has lived in Singapore for five years, after coming here with her parents. Her mother taught at the local German School while her father is an engineer with Lufthansa.
When her parents later separated her father returned to Germany while her mother stayed in Singapore until last year.
Bohl continued living in Singapore under a job training scheme with Daimler-Chrysler, the reports said.
Her drug trafficking charge, which has roused considerable public interest in Germany, is seen as a potential diplomatic tinderbox because of the mandatory death penalty if convicted.
If convicted, she would become the second European to be hanged in Singapore for drug offences. Dutch engineer Johannes van Damme was executed in 1994.
Singapore, a wealthy island-state steeped in Confucian values of discipline and hard work, has never backed down from carrying out its tough punishments including hanging and caning, despite occasional diplomatic skirmishes with the home countries of foreign convicts.
When Van Damme was sentenced to death for trafficking 4.32 kilograms (9.5 pounds) of heroin, Singapore rejected pressure from the Netherlands to stop the execution and dismissed suggestions of a "cultural gap" between the two countries.
The foreign ministry said then that the government could not change its laws to accommodate the Netherlands. |
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| Trancer-X |
That's insane. What an atrocity to humanity!
It also goes to show that the most severe laws are still not enough of a deterrent. People will do what they want to do, just as they have from the beginning of time. Education is the key. |
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| randummboy |
| okay.. at first i thought this was totally outrageous.. but then i realized the truth.. she had huge amounts of weed, clearly over the minimum for the death penalty.. and its not like shes unaware of the laws, shes been living there for 5 years! its unfortunate and may sound harsh, but thats the way it is in other countries.. anyways, i DO support the death penalty, becuase what scares people more than death its self? |
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| davinox |
that's got to be a joke!
killing someone over weed? |
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| Michael Russo |
| quote: | Originally posted by randummboy
i DO support the death penalty, becuase what scares people more than death its self? |
I do see your point, but I'm against the death penalty because I don't think the government, or anyone else for that matter, should be able to take someone else's life. |
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| Michael Russo |
| quote: | Originally posted by davinox
that's got to be a joke!
killing someone over weed? |
Lol, i was thinking the same thing...
BTW, I downloaded an mp3, it said "davinox's trance" in the comment field. Just thought i should share that with you :) |
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| tranceDJ |
Ok, thats a bunch of bull but I say it's pretty stupid to have drugs (even pot) in a country like Singapore which has extremely tough laws. For example, you're not even allowed to chew gum in the country!
The bottom line still is that no one should be killed for having drugs but I guess it's how the Singapore gov't deals with stuff and she did the crime and now sadly may have to pay the price. Sorry I'm being so realistic here, I really do think that it sucks that she might have to die for having some marijuana. |
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| Thor |
| quote: | Originally posted by randummboy
okay.. at first i thought this was totally outrageous.. but then i realized the truth.. she had huge amounts of weed, clearly over the minimum for the death penalty.. and its not like shes unaware of the laws, shes been living there for 5 years! its unfortunate and may sound harsh, but thats the way it is in other countries.. anyways, i DO support the death penalty, becuase what scares people more than death its self? |
Firstly I think there is this big double standard, people who smoke weed are no worse or better than those who sell it! I honestly think that because someone sells doesn't make them any worse than the user since its a demand issue.
Signapore is a barbaric justice system, ironicly it shares the love for the death penalty like the USA on of the few modern countries that still uses it.
No person should be put to death, it should never be in the power of a government to kill a person, even if that person committed a capital crime.
I still don't get how people can say with a straight face that 20yrs in prison is better than the death penalty! If I was given a choice of 20yrs in prison or death, I'd shoot myself in a second.
Even a few years in prison is hell, if you think its otherwise just ask anyone who's spent time in jail, its a nightmare life.
This girl took a chance in a country that has crazy laws, unfortunately I think there is little that can be done for her, how very very sad :(
BTW the death penalty has little effect on detterance, most capital crimes are commited in the heat of a moment, very few planned crimes.
Most of the modern countries that have no death penalty have lower crime rates, especially in murder, rape, etc... Its just the stubborn ole USA doesn't want to get rid of their bloodlust, even though there is vast evidence that the death penalty does FAR more harm than good.
Only a few years ago in the US due to new DNA testing, we saw over 50 men on death row get outright released. The vast majority of people killed in death row are black american, and the sad truth is that there have been likely very many innocent deaths on death row.
How wonderfully civilized, wheres the Roman gladiator fights? I'm sure the american public would support criminals fighting each other to deat on national television.. Or maybe public stonings! YAY. |
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| Trancewave |
| It may sound harsh but think about it logically. She's lived there for a few years and she KNOWS the law for that particular country. Does the law seem ridiculous? Yes.....but she knew the consequences if she got caught and now she's paying for it. It's not like she had a few grams on her, she had 24 ounces!. She obviously knew what she was doing, only stupid enough to get caught. She was not forced to do what she did, she chose to. |
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| Michael Russo |
| quote: | Originally posted by Trancewave
she KNOWS the law for that particular country. Does the law seem ridiculous? Yes.....but she knew the consequences if she got caught and now she's paying for it. |
The fact that she knew the laws is irrelevant. And yes, the law is ridiculous. But it just proves that the death penalty doesn't work... people will do things regardless of the consequences.
| quote: | Originally posted by Trancewave
She obviously knew what she was doing, only stupid enough to get caught. She was not forced to do what she did, she chose to. |
And even if she "chose" to do it, the gov't shouldn't be able to "choose" to kill her.
What's worse here? The fact that she sells drugs or the fact that the gov't thinks they can determine the value of human life? |
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| davinox |
| quote: | Originally posted by Michael Russo
BTW, I downloaded an mp3, it said "davinox's trance" in the comment field. Just thought i should share that with you :) |
Yuh!! all my singles have that, and are shared on AG...
my only other claim to fame would be this song on AG:
http://www.audiogalaxy.com/list/song.php?&g=241264101 |
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| Raptor |
| this is outrageous... just put her in jail for sometime... sucks to be her |
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