08/21/2007
Associated Press
The European Union on Tuesday urged the governor of Texas to halt executions and introduce a moratorium on capital punishment in the United States' busiest death penalty state.
In an unusual direct appeal, the EU said Texas Gov. Rick Perry must "exercise all powers vested in his office" to halt the impending 400th execution since Texas resumed carrying out death sentences in 1982. The execution of Johnny Ray Conner is scheduled for this week. He is to die for the shooting death of a Houston grocery store owner during an attempted holdup in 1998,
"The European Union notes with great regret the upcoming execution in the State of Texas," the bloc said in a statement. The death penalty is banned in the 27-nation EU, which also fights for its the global abolition.
"The irreversibility of the punishment means that miscarriages of justice - which are inevitable in all legal systems - cannot be redressed," the EU said in a statement.
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