Editing Claudia Roth (section)

===On the death penalty===
In 2008, Roth publicly urged incoming U.S. president [[Barack Obama]] to "be pushing for the banning of the death penalty, not for upholding it. The death penalty is the biggest blow against human rights and the right to live. He is not in a position to determine whether people live or die, not even in punishing them for the worst crimes!"<ref>[http://www.bild.de/news/bild-english/death-penalty-for-child-rapist-4975588.bild.html "Obama: Death penalty for child rapists!"], ''[[Bild]]'', 2 July 2008.</ref> Speaking in her capacity as leader of the Green Party and underlining the profound divergence in opinion concerning capital punishment in the United States and Western Europe, Roth called the execution of [[Troy Davis]] in 2011 "a cynical and inhumane spectacle that occasions mourning and horror."<ref>Scott Sayare (22 September 2011), [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/23/world/europe/davis-execution-leads-to-chorus-of-outrage-in-europe.html "In Europe, a Chorus of Outrage Over a U.S. Execution"], ''The New York Times''.</ref> She has also spoken out against capital punishment on numerous other occasions, including the execution of the [[LaGrand case|LaGrand brothers]] in 1999 which she attended.<ref>Michaela Schießl (1 March 1999), [http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-9507443.html "Wie ein Tier im Käfig"], ''[[Der Spiegel]]''.</ref>