The European Union has congratulated the authorities of Equatorial Guinea for abolishing the death penalty but urged the African country to complete this achievement by also excluding capital punishment from its Code of Military Justice.
The country’s new Penal Code, published earlier this week, includes the abolition of the death penalty, announced in mid-September by Equatoguinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
«With this historic step, Equatorial Guinea joins the majority of countries in the world that have eliminated capital punishment. This abolition reflects the growing trend worldwide to abandon this type of punishment,» the European Union welcomed in a statement issued by its European External Action Service.
However, the EU has urged Equatorial Guinea to eliminate this «cruel and inhuman punishment» also from its Code of Military Justice in order to «complete this important achievement» towards the total abolition of a punishment that «does not act as a deterrent to crime and makes any miscarriage of justice irreversible».
«The European Union is firmly opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances and will continue to work for its abolition in the few countries that still apply it,» the European External Action Service concluded.
