EU statement on the execution of Tselayarona

Correspondent | Monday February 19, 2018 18:00

 

The EU Heads of Mission in Botswana deplore that Joseph Tselayarona was executed on 17 February 2018 and recall the EU's principled position against the use of capital punishment, which can never be justified.

The death penalty is a cruel and inhumane punishment.

There is no evidence that it has a better deterrent effect than imprisonment, and judicial and other errors in its application are irrevocable and irreversible, which is why most of the countries in the world have stopped applying it.

We call on Botswana to initiate a public debate on its use of the death penalty, as the government of Botswana has already agreed in the Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council.

By Delegation of the European Union to Botswana & SADC