Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I would like to thank my colleagues for bringing up this issue. As we noted in our interventions on January 18 and March 1, the question of capital punishment is a matter of intense and serious debate in the United States.

In the United States, each person facing capital punishment is constitutionally guaranteed fair and impartial proceedings, the right to appeal, and effective assistance of counsel.

Under United States law, an individual sentenced to death is entitled to a fact-finding procedure that affords a full and fair hearing to assess his or her mental competence.

As our Swiss colleague noted, the United States Supreme Court has announced this week that it will review whether the execution of mentally retarded offenders violates the US constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment."

In keeping with our OSCE commitment to exchange information on the question of the abolition of the death penalty, we will continue to share developments in this matter as we become aware of them in the future.