EU CONCERNED BY EXECUTIONS IN JAPAN

the European Union released a statement saying it was "deeply concerned at the Japanese authorities' announcement that three people under sentence of death – Mr Yoshiyuki Mantani, aged 68, Mr Mineteru Yamamoto, aged 68, Mr Isamu Hirano, aged 61 – were hanged. The acceleration of executions in Japan confirms a particularly disturbing trend at a time when there are more than 100 prisoners waiting on death row. The EU reiterates its longstanding opposition to the death penalty, whatever the circumstances, and is striving to achieve its universal abolition, seeking a global moratorium on the death penalty as the first step. The EU considers that the elimination of the death penalty is fundamental to the protection of human dignity and to the progressive development of human rights. Any miscarriage of justice in the application of capital punishment represents an irreparable and irreversible loss of human life. No legal system is immune from mistakes and there is no irrefutable evidence that the death penalty provides added value in terms of deterrence."