01/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - Catherine Ashton deplores two new executions and calls for a moratorium. On Friday 28 September, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton deplored the execution the previous day of two Japanese death row inmates, Yukinori Matsuda and Sachiko Eto. Recalling that two other executions took place in August, Ashton stressed that these new executions bring the number of people executed in 2012 to seven - “a worrying trend following a period of nearly two years during which no executions took place”. She repeated her call for Japan to “consider seriously a moratorium, to allow a thorough public debate on the death penalty, including its complete legal abolition”. She also said that more than two thirds of countries have officially abolished or stopped applying this sentence. (CG/transl.fl)