Indian town drops death penalty in murder case

May 23, 8:53 PM EDT
Indian town drops death penalty in murder case

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) -- An Indian community that sentenced a young man to death by hanging for the murder of another man softened his punishment Sunday, ordering him to do five years of community service instead.

Orlando Quishpe, 21, was also subjected to punishments that included carrying a heavy sack of dirt, an ice-water bath and a public whipping with a thorny plant while he was forced to beg forgiveness.

Ecuador's attorney general had threatened legal action against the community after it ordered Quishpe's execution last week, because the South American nation does not allow the death penalty.

The Indians refused the government's request that the suspect be handed over to the regular courts. Ecuador's constitution recognizes indigenous justice as long as it does not violate the charter or human rights.

An assembly of residents in La Cocha, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) from the capital, debated for six hours Sunday and dropped the death penalty.

More:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_ECUADOR_COMMUNITY_JUSTICE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-05-23-20-53-23

Don't know much about this tribe or other tribes in Ecuador, but I've been following the issue of tribal vs state justice in Bolivia, and in Bolivia the use of whipping and other tribal punishments seems aimed at re-integrating a member of the community who has committed a serious crime--rather than imprisoning or executing the criminal. In other words, they don't believe in SEPARATING the criminal from society--as U.S./European-style governments do--which often has very corrosive consequences. (The criminal meets other criminals in jail and becomes a criminal-for-life; the community or tribe gets fractured--a piece of it is unhealed and gone.) Tribal punishment is more direct, more accurate and better-aimed--aimed at healing the wound to the community. Bolivia--which, like Ecuador, has a big indigenous population--has a similar new constitutional provision which respects tribal justice tempered by a national commitment to human rights. The death penalty is also outlawed there. And this is the first I've heard of any tribe trying to impose a death penalty in this new political/legal climate of leftist/progressive policies, on the whole, combined with efforts to respect and PRESERVE traditional cultures. An example: Bolivia sanctified the coca leaf in its constitution--the traditional Indigenous medicine, essential for survival in the high altitudes and icy climate of the Andes. Coca leaf tea and chewing, and local coca leaf production (not cocaine) is protected. President Evo Morales is, in fact, still the head of the coca leaf farmers' union--how he got his start in politics--which has all along opposed the failed, corrupt, murderous U.S. "war on drugs" with its militarism and toxic pesticide spraying. Respect for Indigenous tradition has had some very good results, such as this.

Bolivia: Recent Lynchings Cause Concerns
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
From Global Voices Online, a site that collects, edits and translates blogs from around the world:

A string of lynchings and attempted lynchings around Bolivia has caused a bit of concern around the country. The latest and most high-profile case took place in the Altiplano town of Achacachi. Reports say that 11 men and women, who were allegedly accused of robbery were captured by local residents and were set ablaze. Two of the accused died, and the other 9 were badly burnt, but were saved when soldiers and the town’s mayor pleaded that the lynching should stop.


http://topics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/bolivia-recent-lynchings-cause-concerns/

There is no evidence that this was a tribal decision, or a formal decision of any kind. And Government Minister Alfredo Rada "said the case can not be considered an act of communal justice." The NYT blog item is very sketchy. A fuller account is given at

http://www.lagaceta.com.ar/vernota.asp?id_nota=300930

This incident was clearly an anomaly and very untypical of tribal justice, and was certainly not approved of by local or national authorities. The perpetrators were being prosecuted for murder.