The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, on Thursday deplored the execution in the United States of Troy Davis.
EC spokesperson Maja Kocijancic told journalists at the commission's midday briefing that the EU regrets the execution of Davis,on the 21st September in the State of Georgia.
"The EU has called for an urgent commutation of the execution because of the serious and compelling doubts that have surrounded this case," she said. "We continue to believe that the abolition of death penalty is essential to protect human dignity and to the progressive development of human rights."
Troy Davis, 42, received a lethal injection and died at 11:08 pm on Wednesday. He was convicted of the 1989 murder of an off-duty policeman, Mark Allen McPhail, in the state of Georgia. His execution had been delayed three times previously, while lawyers argued that seven of the nine original witnesses against him had retracted or disputed their own testimony.
