Eu calls on the Bangladeshi authorities to commute death sentence
EU calls on the Bangladeshi authorities to commute this sentence and to introduce a moratorium on executions as a first step towards definitive abolition of capital punishment ``The European Union is following closely the judicial proceedings in Bangladesh concerning the crimes committed during the war preceding the independence of Bangladesh in 1971. From the start of the trials, the European Union has repeatedly stressed its concern about the possible application of the death penalty under the International Crimes Act, given its opposition on principle to capital punishment. The High Representative therefore regrets the death sentence in the in absentia case of Abul Kalam Azad issued by the International Crimes Tribunal on 21 January 2013. The European Union is opposed to the use of capital punishment in all cases and under any circumstances. The High Representative calls on the Bangladeshi authorities to commute this sentence and to introduce a moratorium on executions as a first step towards definitive abolition of capital punishment'' said the spokesperson of Catherine Ashton.
Even as the Prime Minister takes a call on Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal's appeal for commuting Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar's death sentence to life term, senior officials in the central security establishment see little room for securing a reprieve for Bhullar as all legal avenues may have been exhausted.