EU Presidency statement on the executions in Indonesia

Press release 371/2006
22 September, 2006

The Presidency of the European Union has learned with disappointment that despite numerous expressions of concern by the EU to the Indonesian authorities, Indonesia has carried out executions in Central Sulawesi on Friday 22 September 2006.

Reiterating the EU’s principled stance against the death penalty and recalling that the EU has discussed this stance with the Indonesian authorities on several occasions, the Presidency expresses its regret at the recent executions. The European Union opposes the use of death penalty in all circumstances and has urged the universal abolition of this cruel and inhuman punishment.

The Presidency urges the Indonesian government to refrain from carrying out further executions, and thereby to reinstate the moratorium on the death penalty. The Presidency hopes that Indonesia will consider the abolition of the death penalty and will enshrine this abolition in law.