Brussels, 23/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 20 April, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton deplored the six executions that had taken place the previous day in Taiwan following on from an earlier round of executions on 21 December. She said the six executions show that “Taiwan's authorities continue to act in disregard of concerns expressed worldwide”, and she again called on the Taiwanese authorities to end this backtracking and to work effectively towards a moratorium on executions with a view to abolition. Ashton deeply regrets that the authorities have ignored the recommendation - which was made by a panel of experts on 1 March - to introduce an immediate moratorium on executions, Ashton's spokesperson stated in a press release. He said that “this decision very unfortunately confirms the deterioration of the situation in Taiwan on the question of the death penalty, after the interruption of a four-year de facto moratorium on executions”. The six men who were executed had been sentenced for several murders. (CG/transl.fl)