The first execution in the United States using nitrogen took place on January 26 (video)

On Friday, January 26, for the first time in the United States, a prisoner sentenced to death was executed by pure nitrogen asphyxiation.

The execution of 58-year-old Kenneth Eugene Smith took place in the US state of Alabama, in the prison in the city of Atmore. He was convicted of murder in 1989 for killing a pastor’s wife on his order. Smith repeatedly tried to challenge the conviction, but all three appeals were rejected.

Smith became one of the few criminals in the United States whom the state executed twice. In 2022, he had already passed the “trial of death” – they tried to execute him by lethal injection. But this was not possible due to the fact that the specialists who carried out the procedure were unable to get the needle into the vein, and then the warrant to execute the sentence expired.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said: “After more than 30 years of trying to game the system, Smith has answered for his horrific crimes.” State Attorney General Steve Marshall said the manner of execution was “effective and humane and justice was done,” dismissing allegations of cruelty. writes Air Force.

The US Supreme Court two days earlier rejected the convict’s request to delay his execution. A prisoner sentenced to death is executed using clean gas. In official language, this cause of death is called nitrogen hypoxia, explains D.W. The execution began at 19.56 local time, death occurred at 20.25.

Alabama is one of only three states in the United States that allows executions using nitrogen gas. This gas deprives a person of the ability to inhale oxygen and thus gradual suffocation occurs. The last time a prisoner was executed by gas in this country was in 1999. At that time, hydrocyanide, also known as hydrogen cyanide and hydrocyanic acid, was used.

Even during the preparations for Smith’s execution with nitrogen, the very fact of the upcoming action drew sharp criticism from the United Nations. Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, last week condemned the planned use of a “new and untested” execution method. According to international law, this may amount to “torture or inhuman and degrading punishment.”

Alabama authorities, by contrast, argued that the use of nitrogen gas was “perhaps the most humane method of execution ever developed” and similar to euthanasia methods used around the world. Nitrogen gas is sometimes used to kill animals. Nitrogen is one of a number of inert gases that has no effect on the body but simply “dilutes” oxygen, gradually replacing it in all living cells, the state says.

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