EU criticizes execution of US prisoner with disability

BRUSSELS, Jan 28 (KUNA) -- The EU on Wednesday slammed the execution of a prisoner named Warren Lee Hill in the US State of Georgia yesterday in spite of the indications that he suffered from a mental disability, as "contrary to widely accepted human rights norms and to the minimum standards set forth according to international human rights law." "We regret that the numerous calls for clemency, including those of the EU, went unheeded," said Catherine Ray, spokesperson for EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, in a statement here tonight. She noted that the EU "is opposed to the use of capital punishment under all circumstances and aims at its universal abolition, seeking a global moratorium on the death penalty as a first step." Hill was sentenced to death in 1990 for killing a fellow prisoner. He was serving a life sentence for the 1985 killing of his girlfriend. (end) nk.gb