Strasbourg, 19/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - The President of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly firmly condemned the capital executions of Yoshiteru and Tatsuya Tamoto in Japan. "The death sentence is cruel and unnecessary: it has no place in a civilised society. It is especially frightening that these men should, it seems, have been executed without their families being informed of the date", declared Peter Schieder, recalling that the 44 member states of the Council of Europe were firmly against the death penalty. "In June of last year, the Assembly asked Japan to introduce a moratorium on executions and improve the conditions of detention on death row, otherwise its status as observer could be placed back into question. These executions seem to show that Japan has decided to ignore that request", he stressed, before continuing: "But death will never be a question of diplomatic status. I call on the Japanese authorities to put an end to that barbaric practice, not only because of what the Europeans may think or do, but because it is inhumane, intolerable and unworthy of a civilised country".