Prior to the World and European Day against the Death Penalty tomorrow (10 October), Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier issued the following statement:

“Rejection of capital punishment is one of the keystones of German human-rights policy. The death penalty goes against our fundamental ethic and moral principles.

We will therefore not slacken our efforts to achieve the worldwide abolition of capital punishment. This applies to individual cases which we will continue to discuss frankly and urgently, as well as to international fora such as the UN which, based on a German and European initiative, for the first time adopted a moratorium on the death penalty in 2007.”