Ecuador calls for
suspension of
Ecuadorian's death
sentence in U.S.
Ecuador on Tuesday
condemned the death
sentence handed down to
Ecuadorian citizen
Nelson Ivan Serrano
Saenz in the United
States for the murder of
four people.
"As a nation Ecuador
condemns the death
penalty. Serrano should
be pardoned," Ecuador's
Interior Minister
Gustavo Larrea told the
press.
A Florida court has
found Serrano guilty of
murdering four people --
George Gonsalves, 69;
Frank Dosso, 35; Diane
Patisso, 28,and George
Patisso Jr., 26 -- all
on Dec. 3, 1997.
Serrano, who has
U.S.-Ecuadorian dual
nationality, was
arrested in August 2002
in Quito and deported to
the United States, based
on a U.S. warrant for
multiple murder.
Ecuador's Foreign
Ministry and Ombudsman
said this deportation
was illegal, because
Serrano now faces a
penalty that is illegal
in Ecuador.
Serrano, Gonsalves and
the father of Dosso were
partners in a factory
that made clothing
transporting equipment
for laundries. Gonsalves
and Dosso fired Serrano,
who had been company
president, in 1997,
accusing him of stealing
money.
Serrano has always
denied having any part
in the murders, saying
that he was in Polk
County, a district in
the distant U.S. city of
Atlanta, at the time.
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