WIlliam J, Cole writes:

Austrian Wants "State Murderer" Schwarzenegger To Lose Citizenship

Associated Press

Vienna, Austria — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should be stripped of citizenship in his native Austria for approving the execution of a convicted killer, a leading Austrian politician said Saturday.

Peter Pilz, a top official with the environmentalist Green Party, said the Austria-born Schwarzenegger no longer is worthy of citizenship in his homeland because he broke the law by clearing Donald Beardslee's execution on Wednesday. Capital punishment is illegal here, and Schwarzenegger — who holds dual U.S.-Austrian nationality — should be stripped of his Austrian passport for "heavily damaging the reputation of the republic," Pilz said. He told Austrian media he sent the Interior Ministry a letter formally requesting that the government begin the process of terminating Schwarzenegger's citizenship."Schwarzenegger is possibly the most prominent Austrian abroad, and he shapes the picture of Austria," Pilz said. "I don't want that picture shaped by someone who commits state murder. That does not correspond to the political culture of this country."

Calls to the Interior Ministry seeking comment went unanswered Saturday.

It appeared unlikely that the Greens, a leftist opposition party which holds just a handful of seats in parliament, would persuade Austria's conservative government to revoke Schwarzenegger's citizenship.

Rarely, if ever, has Austria taken the extraordinary step of stripping someone of citizenship. Not even Kurt Waldheim, the former Austrian president and U.N. secretary-general linked to Nazi war crimes, had his citizenship revoked.

Beardslee, 61, convicted of killing two women over a drug deal almost a quarter-century ago, became the first inmate put to death by California three years when he was given a lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison.

The execution came hours after Schwarzenegger rejected a clemency petition seeking to commute the death sentence to life without parole, and the California Supreme Court rejected two last-minute appeals. In Vienna, it triggered a small but spirited protest outside the U.S. Embassy.

The backlash against Schwarzenegger underscores how he has lost popularity in his homeland over his support for the death penalty. Most Austrians - and many other Europeans - abhor capital punishment as cruel and inhumane.

In a straw vote held earlier in the week in the western province of Upper Austria, fewer than 25 percent said they considered Schwarzenegger fit to run the province.

It was a stark difference from six months ago, when Austria's post office giddily issued a new "Arnie" stamp and Austrian newspaper commentators urged Americans to amend the constitution to let foreign-born citizens like Schwarzenegger run for president.

Pilz's Green Party has been especially riled by the governor's pro-death penalty stance. In the southern city of Graz, near Schwarzenegger's birthplace, the Greens have led a drive to rename Schwarzenegger Stadium, a 15,350-seat soccer venue, because he supports capital punishment.

Schwarzenegger was born in 1947 in the village of Thal just outside Graz, where he began his bodybuilding career. He emigrated to the United States in 1968 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1984, but has retained his Austrian citizenship.

Pilz insists there are sufficient legal grounds to strip Schwarzenegger of that citizenship: specifically, a clause in Austria's nationality law stipulating that citizenship can be revoked if an Austrian "in the service of another country substantially damages the interests or reputation of the republic by his or her behavior."

"Capital punishment is unacceptable in Austria and in Europe, and no Austrian citizen may take part in it or arrange it," he said."