BACKLASH:Some netizens said that the EU had no right to interfere in matters of national sovereignty, while others said that was just what China would have said
Taipei Times
Date: Jun 07, 2015
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff reporter
The executions of six death-row inmates on Friday triggered a statement from the EU
Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty members protest outside the Ministry of Justice building in Taipei on Friday. Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
calling for an immediate moratorium on capital punishment in Taiwan, which in turn prompted heated debate among netizens.
The EU issued the statement hours after the executions on Friday night, which brought the number of prisoners executed by President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration to 32 since April 2010, when Ma ended a four-year moratorium on the death penalty.
The EU called on Taiwan to “introduce an immediate moratorium on executions” as recommended by international experts in March 2013 following Taiwan’s first human rights report and as had been the case in Taiwan from 2006 to April 2010, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said.
“We recognize the suffering of the victims of the crimes involved and express our sincere sympathy to their families,” she said. [FULL STORY]
