"To die by order of the state, decreed by a judge or a politician as punishment for a crime, is thankfully a thing of the past in Europe," said PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig, speaking as the EU joined the Council of Europe in marking 10 October as an annual European day against the death penalty, according to a PACE press-release, forwarded to UNIAN.
"But human dignity demands that we put our arguments to those who still carry out this practice. Once a year, we join with others across the world to press for a global moratorium on executions. The tide is turning and one day, I am sure, the death penalty will pass into history."
Abolition of the death penalty is a condition of membership in the 47-nation Council of Europe, where no executions have taken place since 1997.
