EU statement on the case of Troy Davis

Declaration by the High Representative, Catherine Ashton, on behalf of the European Union on the case of Mr Troy Davis sentenced to death in the United States.

“The European Union has expressed its concern over the case of Mr Troy Davis, an American Citizen condemned to death in 1991 in the State of Georgia, and who is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday 21 September.

The European Union has followed with great concern the case of Mr Troy Davis, a U.S. citizen sentenced to death in the State of Georgia.  It has now been announced that date of Wednesday September 21, 2011 has been set for his execution.

Serious and compelling doubts have persistently surrounded the evidence on which Mr. Davis was convicted, and these were recognized by the appeal judges.  The European Union therefore calls for his execution to be urgently commuted.

While we are aware of the suffering of the victims of violent crime and their families, we recall that with capital punishment, any miscarriage of justice, from which no legal system is immune, represents an irreversible loss of human life.  As a result, the European Union reaffirms its principled and longstanding opposition to the use of capital punishment under all circumstances.”