BRUSSELS (AFP) - Sweden, the European Union's presidency, expressed regret Thursday at the execution in Japan of three people convicted of multiple murders and reaffirmed its opposition to the death penalty.

"The European Union notes with deep regret the execution by hanging of... Yukio Yamaji, Chen Detong and Hiroshi Maeue," EU president Sweden said in a statement.

"The European Union takes this opportunity to renew its call to the Japanese authorities for a moratorium on the application of the death penalty, pending its complete legal abolition."

Japan carried out the hangings on Tuesday.

The government identified the condemned as Hiroshi Maeue, 40, Yukio Yamaji, 25, and Chinese national Chen Detong, 41, who had killed three of his compatriots and wounded three more Chinese people.

Sweden said the 27-nation bloc "is opposed to the use of capital punishment in all cases and under all circumstances and has consistently called for its universal abolition.

"We believe that the abolition of the death penalty is essential to protect human dignity, and to the progressive development of human rights."