Former Illinois governor and HOC honorary president...

Former Illinois governor and HOC honorary president George Ryan and former death row inmate Leroy Orange visited the Spanish capital Madrid to promote the campaign for a worldwide moratorium on executions through a UN resolution.
Ryan and Orange, along with former EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Emma Bonino MEP and Spanish Senator for Girona Jordi Xucla (CiU) addressed a news conference in the Senate and called for a commitment by the EU member-states to jointly present a pro-moratorium resolution at the ongoing UN General Assembly.
Ryan and Bonino urged the EU to surmount its "excessive caution" and to commit itself with determination to taking this resolution to the vote at the GA. They also called on Spain to firmly support the Italian government's - the current EU term-president - proposal to present this resolution at the 2003 GA.
Orange recalled that 13 death-row inmates in Illinois had been found innocent when Ryan decreed a moratorium in 2000 and explained that in the US cases like these and his won "have led to a deep re-consideration of the death penalty."
"Just nine months ago, I was locked away in a jail as the State of Illinois sought to kill me," Orange said, "today I am here to call for the abolition of the death penalty."
The Hands Off Cain delegation - comprising Ryan, Orange, HOC Treasurer Elisabetta Zamparutti, Board Members Begonia Rodriguez and Anna Zammit and North-Western University assistant professor and Orange's lawyer Cathryn Crawford - met the President of the Spanish Parliament's Commission on Foreign Affairs Jesus Posada Moreno who said that the Commission clearly supported the moratorium proposal and that he would make this view clear to the Foreign Minister.
The Vice President of the Senate Alfredo Prada Presa and Senator Rosa Vindel also expressed their support for the moratorium campaign to the delegation.