26/01/24 (Agence Europe) – On Friday 26 January, the European Union expressed its deep regret regarding the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith the previous day in the US state of Alabama. The execution was carried out by forcing the prisoner to breathe pure nitrogen, depriving him of the oxygen needed to maintain bodily functions, leading to nitrogen hypoxia, explained the spokesman for the European External Action Service, pointing out that this was the first time this method had been used in the United States. “According to leading experts, this method is a particularly cruel and unusual punishment”, he denounced, pointing out that the prisoner, who had been convicted of murder, had already been subjected to a failed execution attempt in November 2022. The spokesman pointed out that to date, 196 innocent people had been released from death row, and that 24 people were executed in 2023 in five American states. (CG)