Trinidad and Tobago is a British Independent Territory...

Trinidad and Tobago is a British Independent Territory for which the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council remains the last court of appeal. In Trinidad and Tobago the death penalty can only lawfully be carried out when a death warrant is issued "on the advice of the Minister of National Security, following consultations with the Advisory Committee on the Power of Pardon under Section 89 of the Constitution." The legal problem stems from a controversial 1994 judgment that was made by the Privy Council in London, when it ruled that it is cruel and unjust punishment to keep prisoners on death row for more than 5 years after their conviction, and their sentences must be commuted to life. But governments complain that the cumbersome appeals process - especially at an international level - is easy for deft lawyers to stretch beyond the 5-year limit. According to another 1993 ruling of the Privy Council, local courts have to complete appeals of death row inmates in one year and appeals to the London-based Law Lords in another year, while applications to human rights bodies should not take more than 18 months. However, at a meeting of Caribbean Attorneys General early in 1998, they affirmed their commitment to the death penalty and that "their sovereignty must not be undermined and their laws subverted as a result of inaction of the Human Rights Committee."