Poland's parliament narrowly rejected a proposal by...

Poland's parliament narrowly rejected a proposal by right-wing lawmakers to restore the death penalty, abolished in 1997.
The amendment to the criminal code, put forward by the opposition Law and Justice Party, was rejected by 198 to 195 votes with 14 abstentions in the Sejm, the lower house of parliament.
The rightist party had proposed restoring the death penalty for crimes of genocide and particularly cruel crimes such as rape with murder.
The powerful Roman Catholic Church as well as President Aleksander Kwasniewski, a member of the ruling left-wing Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), had opposed the initiative.
A senior figure in the Catholic Church, Tadeusz Pieronek, branded it "a return to barbaric methods," while the Polish president said it was "out of step with European standards" and "against the teaching of (Pope) John Paul II."