Togo latest African state to abolish death penalty
Togo has become the latest country to abolish the death penalty, in a parliamentary vote held in the presence of visiting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
Togo is the 15th member of the African Union and the 94th country in the world to abolish the death penalty for all crimes, according to Amnesty International, which is campaigning for global abolition of the penalty.Addressing the parliament as part of a state visit to the West African country, Zapatero called the vote "a giant step for Togo".Togo carried out its last execution in 1978, although the death penalty has remained on the statutes.Under the unanimous parliament vote, convicts condemned to death will have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.Zapatero was accompanied to parliament by President Faure Gnassingbe, with whom he held talks on his arrival from Nigeria on the latest leg of a West African tour.
The parliament of Togo has unanimously voted to abolish the death penalty for all crimes. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who had been campaigning for a global moratorium on the death penalty, witnessed the vote. Zapatero commented on the vote, calling it a “giant step for Togo”. 

Togo’s Justice Minister Kokuo Tozoun said "I think that it's the best decision that we took in this year... we don't have the right to give death to someone if we know that death is not a good thing to give." 

According to human rights organisation Amnesty International, Togo has become the 15th African nation to abolish the death penalty and the 94th country in the world to do so.

There were around 6 inmates on death row in Togo despite the fact that an execution had not been carried out since 1978. Those on death row will have the sentence changed to life imprisonment.