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 MEDIA ADVISORY 
                                                        FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:  Karen Pomer 404-876-5661
              Roger Rathman 212-633-4208

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE IN ATLANTA,
DURING THE 1996 OLYMPIC GAMES, TO RELEASE REPORT EXPOSING THE
RACIST APPLICATION OF THE DEATH PENALTY IN GEORGIA

Secretary General of Amnesty International, Pierre Sane, to
present report and a 
half-million signatures protesting the death penalty

Atlanta, July 9 - Amnesty International (AI) will hold a
press conference in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday, July 23  at
10:00 a.m. to release its report, The Death Penalty in
Georgia: Racist, Arbitrary and Unfair.  In tribute to the
unwavering commitment to civil and human rights demonstrated
by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during his lifetime, the press
conference will be held at the historic Paschal Center
located at 830 M.L. King Jr. Drive in Atlanta.

     Georgia officials, in their bid to host the 1996 Olympic
Games, stated that the City of Atlanta, ~embodies the values
of human liberty and equality as well as any city on earth. 
As the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement, and for many
the modern capital for human rights, Atlanta reflects the
high ideals of Olympism.~  Amnesty International believes
these claims are contradicted by Georgia's violation of basic
human rights, the use of the death penalty.

     In addition to the release of the report, the following
are highlights of the Amnesty International Actions Against
the Death Penalty during the 1996 Olympic Games:

      - An educational and organizing tour of AI anti-death
      penalty activists.  The tour will visit cities and
      towns in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.  Tour
      participants will include representatives from nine
      European AI Sections and Mexico as well as family
      members of murder victims and those on death row.

      - A letter campaign from mayors of former Olympic Games
      cities protesting the ongoing use of the death penalty
      in Georgia.

      - A petition campaign, numbering close to 500,000
      signatures from concerned people around the world
      calling on Georgia~s governor to declare a moratorium
      on all pending executions and to take steps to commute
      all death sentences in the State of Georgia.

      - A series of meetings between AI Secretary General
      Pierre Sane and civil rights, business and community
      leaders in Atlanta to discuss the death penalty as an
      important human rights concern.                       
      ENDS\


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is not a section of Amnesty International in your country
then you should contact the International Secretariat in
London.END
**********

-- 
Doug Holton <dlh@cc.gatech.edu>