Activists in Puerto Rico, whose constitution bans capital...

Activists in Puerto Rico, whose constitution bans capital punishment, protested an upcoming trial in US federal courts in the country in which two of their compatriots could face the death penalty. Joel Rivera Alejandro and Hector Oscar Acosta Martinez faced charges stemming from the kidnapping and murder of businessman Jorge Hernandez Diaz in February 1998.
The suspects demanded a $1 million ransom, but when they learned the victim's family had notified police, they allegedly killed Hernandez Diaz and dismembered his body. Kidnapping is a federal offence, so the defendants must be tried in the US federal court in Puerto Rico.
The Puerto Rican Constitution of 1952 prohibits capital punishment, but US federal law takes precedence under the island's status as a commonwealth of the United States.
The New Puerto Rican Independence Movement issued a statement urging the San Juan government to adhere to the letter and the spirit of the island's constitution, "which clearly and expressly prohibits the death penalty."
"It has been amply demonstrated that in other countries the death penalty has not proven to be an effective deterrent to crime," the statement read.