Strasbourg, 06.08.2012 - "I strongly condemn the executions of two death row inmates, Junya Hattori and Kyozo Matsumura in Japan last week”, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) General Rapporteur on the death penalty Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD) said today.

“I am bitterly disappointed by the attitude of the Japanese authorities. Japan, an Observer State of the Council of Europe, cannot ignore the growing consensus amongst democratic states which must protect human rights and human dignity by abolishing the death penalty", she concluded.