- GENEVA: The Swiss government says death penalty advocates can start collecting signatures for a referendum on whether to restore capital punishment after almost 70 years.
An announcement Tuesday in the federal bulletin says the documents submitted by campaigners meet formal legal requirements.
The group now has until Feb. 24, 2012, to collect 100,000 signatures to force a popular vote to reintroduce the death penalty for murders involving sexual abuse.
Government spokesman Andre Simonazzi says authorities have yet to examine whether the death penalty would be constitutionally legal and in line with Switzerland's international obligations.
Switzerland struck capital punishment from its criminal statutes in 1942. The last military execution took place in 1944.
