20/06/2018 (Agence Europe) – On Tuesday 19 June, the spokesperson for the European External Action Service (EEAS) said that the execution of Theerasak Longji, the first in Thailand since 2009, represented "a clear step backwards". "The European Union calls on the Government of Thailand to refrain from any future executions, and work towards a moratorium and the eventual abolishing of the death penalty", the EEAS spokesperson stated in a press release. The spokesperson added that in 2019 the country would have marked a decade since the last execution and would have joined the list of countries with a de facto moratorium on the use of the death penalty. "This is what the European Union expected, given its discussions with the Thai authorities", the spokesperson said, before reiterating the EU's opposition to the death penalty, "a cruel and inhumane punishment, which fails to act as a deterrent and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity". (CG)