Brussels 03.07.2021 “The European Union welcomes United States’ Attorney General’s announcement on Thursday, July 1,to impose a moratorium on federal executions until the US Department of Justice reviews its policies on the death penalty. This is a promising first step that we hope will bring a definitive end to this practice at federal level, and pave the way for the nationwide abolition of capital punishment in the US” reads the statement by the European External Action Service (EEAS) spokesperson on halting federal executions.(Image above: EU building).

“The European Union strongly opposes the death penalty at all times and in all circumstances. It is a cruel and inhumane punishment, which fails to act as a deterrent to crime and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity”.

“The European Union continues to work for the universal abolition of the death penalty”.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced a moratorium on federal executions, a shift from the Trump administration, which had resumed the use of the death penalty in federal cases.

Garland wrote in the memo that the Justice Department would also review its policies and procedures to make sure they “are consistent with the principles articulated in this memorandum.”

“The Department of Justice must ensure that everyone in the federal criminal justice system is not only afforded the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States, but is also treated fairly and humanely,” Garland announced in a statement. “That obligation has special force in capital cases.”