Two death row inmates who killed a company president and an employee at the firm were hanged Thursday morning in Osaka, the Justice Ministry said, bringing the number of executions in the country this year to 15.
The executions were the first carried out since 13 former members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult were hanged in July and the first ordered by Justice Minister Takashi Yamashita.
The two convicts were 60-year-old Keizo Okamoto, an ex-yakuza, and Hiroya Suemori, 67, a former investment adviser. They were hanged at the Osaka Detention Center.
They were both sentenced to death in September 2004 for fraud, kidnapping and murdering a president and worker of an investment company, as well as orchestrating another scam targeting a brokerage firm.
The two were convicted of kidnapping and strangling 43-year-old Kazuo Kengaku, the president of investment firm Cosmo Research Corp., in an apartment building in Osaka on Jan. 29, 1988, after robbing him of some ¥100 million in cash.
On the same day, they murdered Hiroyuki Watanabe, a 23-year-old employee of the investment firm. Watanabe had earlier been tricked into giving the two killers information about Kengaku’s whereabouts. To conceal the heinous crime, Okamoto and Suemori buried the two bodies in concrete and dumped them in a mountainous area of Kyoto Prefecture.
Okamoto and Suemori also took stocks worth ¥140 million from a brokerage firm and both were found to be illegally in possession of guns.
During a hastily arranged news conference Thursday morning, Yamashita called the crimes “extremely atrocious,” and said it was clear the two convicts had committed murders solely for selfish purposes.
RELATED: Two executed in Osaka, one of whom had filed for a retrial
RELATED: Two executed in Osaka, one of whom had filed for a retrial
“These crimes were ultimately vexing not only for the victims but also the surviving families,” Yamashita said. “They were extremely heinous and shook the nation.”
He explained the two inmates were guilty of robbery, murder, fraud, dumping the murdered bodies and violating the firearm and explosives control laws.
2018 has now tied 2008 for the most executions in a single year since 1993, when Japan resumed use of the death penalty. Thursday’s hangings brought the number of executions under the current administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who retook office in 2012, to 36.
As of Thursday, 110 inmates are on death row. Of that number, 86 are seeking retrials, he said.
Yamashita acknowledged the severity of such punishment, but also said that abolishing the death penalty “would not be appropriate,” when asked about international calls to put an end to capital punishment in addition to criticism that labels Japan’s system as cruel and secretive.
“In the case of crimes conducted against a large number of people, or crimes that are extremely cruel or atrocious, the death penalty is absolutely necessary,” Yamashita said.
The Japan Federation of Bar Associations has called for capital punishment to be abolished by 2020 and replaced with lifetime imprisonment instead.
Human rights advocacy group Amnesty International Japan strongly criticized the government’s decision to execute the two inmates.
Amnesty’s Executive Director Hideaki Nakagawa told The Japan Times that the decision was “very disappointing,” given that the hangings were carried out just five months after the executions of the 13 Aum cultists.
He also said that the hanging of Okamoto was problematic given that he had requested a retrial and was waiting for a decision.
“Now as the world is trying to abolish the practice, Japan’s stance looks like the nation is going against such efforts,” Nakagawa said, noting that earlier this month, a total of 121 countries signed a moratorium on the death penalty and have declared they are seeking its worldwide abolition.
Earlier this month, a group of Japanese lawmakers was established to discuss the future of the system. More than 50 lawmakers from ruling and opposition parties are taking part in the discussion.
Source: Japan Times, Magdalena Osumi, December 27, 2018
2 death row inmates hanged, bringing 2018 executions to 15
TOKYO -- Japan hanged two men convicted of murder on Thursday, the justice minister said, bringing the number of executions this year to 15 -- tied for the highest amount on record.
With more than 100 inmates on death row, Japan is one of the few developed nations to retain the death penalty, and public support for it remains high despite international criticism, including from rights groups.
The minister named the two men executed as Keizo Kawamura (sic), 60, and Hiroya Suemori, 67, who were convicted of the 1988 strangling of an investment firm chief and an employee.
After stealing 100 million yen, they buried the two bodies in concrete in the mountains. Their capital punishment sentence was finalised in 2004.
"This was an extremely heinous crime that shook society," Justice Minister Takashi Yamashita told a press conference.
The minister, who is a a former prosecutor, said he ordered the executions after careful consideration, and made it clear that Japan would not stop capital punishment any time soon.
"Evil, heinous crimes cannot avoid the death penalty," he said. "I believe it is not appropriate to abolish the death penalty."
Japan has so far hanged 15 inmates this year, matching a 2008 record since the nation started publicly announcing executions in 1998.
Thursday's hangings came five months after the nation carried out the executions of cult members sentenced to death for their role in the fatal 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway and other crimes.
A total of 13 people belonging to the Aum Shinrikyo cult -- including former guru Shoko Asahara -- were executed in July, drawing a line under the horrific attack which shocked the world and prompted national soul-searching over the group and its crimes.
The mass execution sparked some criticism from rights groups, including Amnesty International.
Local media said authorities wanted the death sentences against the Aum members to be carried out before Japan's emperor abdicates next year, when a new imperial era will begin.
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde