29/03/2012 President
Jean-Claude Mignon firmly condemns executions in Japan
Strasbourg, 29.03.2012 - The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) today firmly condemned Japan's execution of Yasuaki Uwabe, Tomoyuki Furusawa and Yasutoshi Matsuda.
"We expect Japan, as a country enjoying observer status with the Council of Europe, to share our values and fundamental principles. In April last year, the Assembly again urged Japan to join the growing consensus among those democratic countries which have done away with capital punishment so as to protect human rights and human dignity. These executions show that Japan has decided to ignore our request and defy the international community by continuing to swim against the tide of the worldwide abolition trend", he stated.
"This barbaric practice has no place in a civilised society. This is why I yet again call on the Japanese authorities to introduce an immediate moratorium on executions, which would be a first step towards abolition", Mr Mignon went on.
"As we pointed out in Resolution 1807, European experience has incontrovertibly shown that the death penalty is not necessary to curb violent crime, and that the political leaders who have opened the way for abolition have not been the subject of hostile reactions from public opinion", he said.
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The death penalty is not carried out in any of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe.