Brussels, 24/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 24 July, a spokesperson for High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton underlined the EU's grave concerns over the conditions of execution of Joseph Wood the previous day in the State of Arizona, USA. Wood had been sentenced to death in 1989 for killing his girlfriend and her father.
After a lethal injection, Wood reportedly suffered for 2 hours before finally passing away. “We strongly believe that where capital punishment occurs, it shall only be carried out so as to inflict the minimum possible suffering”, said Ashton's spokesperson, stating that this constitutes one of the international minimum standards “that states who insist on maintaining the death penalty” should respect. The EU also regretted that the State of Arizona has failed to notify “the exact source and content of drugs” that were used to execute Wood. The governor of Arizona has ordered an investigation into exactly how events unfurled.
“We urge the authorities of the State of Arizona to consider a moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolition, to follow the positive example of so far 18 US States who have abolished the death penalty”, added Ashton's spokesperson. The EU is fundamentally opposed to capital punishment. (CG)