wfn.org | Puerto Rican prisoners

[Sheila MESA <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release
For Immediate Use
12 January 1998

WCC CALLS ON CLINTON TO RELEASE PUERTO RICAN PRISONERS

In a letter to US President Bill Clinton, the general secretary of the World
Council of Churches, the Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, has appealed for
clemency on behalf of fifteen long-term Puerto Rican prisoners.  The text
of the letter follows:

"Mr. President,

At the urging of many member churches of the World Council of
Churches in Puerto Rico and in the mainland United States, I write to
appeal for clemency for the fifteen Puerto Ricans incarcerated in your
country for their acts of conscience in favor of Puerto Rican
independence.

In asking you to declare clemency for these men and women, among
them a pastor of one of our member churches and others close to the
churches, we do not intend to enter into a debate with respect to the
validity of the charges of which they were judged guilty by the courts. 
Our appeal is rather on humanitarian grounds, and in the interest of
justice and reconciliation.

These prisoners have served unusually long sentences, often under
extreme conditions.  They were arrested, charged and tried in a time
when the political context may have been judged to require imprisonment
as a deterrent.  Those times are long past, and these prisoners have
long since fulfilled whatever obligations even the notions of justice of the
day might have required.

The World Council of Churches is preparing for its Jubilee Assembly this
year on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary.  In preparation, member
churches around the world are studying and seeking to act on the
biblical concept of jubilee which was, among other things, a time to
proclaim release to the captives.  For the Puerto Rican churches, the
notion of jubilee is doubly significant, as that territory prepares for the
centennial of its formal relationship to the United States.  Many hope for
signs of reconciliation.  Your presidential decree of clemency for these
prisoners would be such a sign.

This compassionate gesture would speak eloquently to the contribution
made by Puerto Ricans to American life over these hundred years.  It
would give flesh to your welcome statements this past year by which
you demonstrated your own and your government s commitment to
human rights and justice.

We urge you therefore to take this step now,  to right the scales of
justice and to open the way to a new relationship with Puerto Rico and
its people."

For further details, contact Rev. Dwain Epps, WCC International Affairs
Coordinator +41.22.791.6220; email  dce@wcc-coe.org

**********
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 330, in
more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions.  The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but
works cooperatively with the WCC.  The highest governing body is the
Assembly, which meets approximately every seven years.  The WCC
was formally inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Its staff is
headed by general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church
in Germany.

World Council of Churches
Press and Information Office
Tel:  (41.22) 791.61.52/51
Fax:  (41.22) 798 13 46
E-Mail: jwn@wcc-coe.org
http://www.wcc-coe.org

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