20/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - EU regrets death sentence. On 19 December, EU High Representative Catherine Ashton regretted the recent death sentence passed on Eduard Lykov, found guilty of five murders by a regional court in Minsk, Belarus, at the end of November. The EU hopes he will be able to exercise his full right of appeal. Aware of the gravity of the crimes for which he has been sentenced, Ashton said that the death penalty can never be justified and the EU always opposes it. She urged Belarus to join a global moratorium on the death penalty as a first step in the process of eliminating it. Belarus is the only country in Europe to still apply the death penalty. Lykov, a 53-year-old, was found guilty of committing five murders in a state of drunkenness. He has already lodged an appeal against his execution. (CG/transl.fl)