I was dismayed to learn that Japan has executed yet another person today. It is particularly shocking that the Japanese Government still adheres to its practice of giving the condemned prisoner and his family no advance warning of the execution. This makes it impossible for them to say goodbye in person.

The death penalty is an inhumane and cruel punishment. The German Government is against capital punishment under any circumstances and is campaigning for its universal abolition. So far, more than two thirds of all countries around the world have abolished the death penalty or are observing a moratorium.

I call yet again on the Japanese Government to refrain from carrying out further death sentences and to conduct an open debate in society about the death penalty – a punishment that has no place in the 21st century.