Abolition of Death Penalty 144th anniversary

1st of July 2011

144 years since the death penalty was abolished
in Portugal

Portugal was the first European country to abolish the death penalty and renounced its application well before it was legally abolished.


The tragedy of man, 'a postponed dead body' as Fernando Pessoa said, does not need an untimely exit from the stage. It is tense enough without an end that is artificial and planned by butchers, megalomaniacs, potentates, racisms and orthodoxies. Therefore, being human, we demand unequivocally that all peoples should have a code of humanity. A code that for all citizens guarantees the right to die their own death.

- Miguel Torga -

Law of the 1st of July 1867
ABOLITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY
Historical summary
© Procuradoria-Geral da República

Portugal Abolition of the death penalty
© Ministerio de Cultura

Miguel Torga
© Wikipedia