Stockholm/Washington, July 22 (DPA) The European Union (EU) Tuesday criticised the US after authorities carried out the 1,000th execution by lethal injection since capital punishment was reinstated in the country in 1976.
The EU said it noted with “deep regret” that Marvallous Keene was executed by lethal injection Tuesday in the state of Ohio. Keene was sentenced to death for the murder of five people during a 1992 killing spree. He was the second person executed in Ohio in a week.

Keene was the 1,000th person to be lethally injected - the most common form of state execution in the US - and the 1,171st person executed overall since 1976, according to figures from the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center.

“The EU is opposed to the use of capital punishment in all cases and under all circumstances and has consistently called for its universal abolition,” read the statement from Sweden, which July 1 assumed the rotating presidency of the 27-nation bloc.

Capital punishment has not proved to be a deterrent, “and any miscarriage of justice - which is inevitable in any legal system - is irreversible”, the statement said.

The EU, which has abolished the death penalty, renewed its call on US federal and state authorities to introduce “a moratorium” on further executions.

Capital punishment is currently legal in 35 US states, but most already have moratoriums or use it extremely rarely. The vast majority of executions occur in only four states - Texas, Virginia, Oklahoma and Missouri.