"In the European Union, the respect of human rights is firmly rooted in the values it embodies. Death penalty is against the fundamental principles of the European Union, and waiving it is a prerequisite for the countries that want to join the EU": the position of Hans-Gert Poettering, president of the EU Parliament, about death penalty is very clear. The German politician supports instead the recent campaign for an international moratorium, decided by the EU Coucil, that will be submitted to the General Assembly of the United Nations next September. "The European Parliament explains Poettering to SIR insists on a thorough opposition to death penalty and has been fighting for long for the abolition of death penalty through worldwide awareness-raising campaigns and resolutions of conviction". The Strasbourg Assembly has discussed the matter on several occasions: "Of all these times, I remember, in particular, the recent resolution in support of the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor who had been sentenced to death by a Libyan Court, or the resolution passed on January 31st this year, asking for the immediate and unconditional enforcement of a universal moratorium on executions", in order "to eventually abolish death penalty all over the world". (continued)
