China carried out Tuesday the death penalty imposed on convicted Japanese drug smuggler Mitsunobu Akano, the official Xinhua News agency said, quoting an announcement from the Supreme People's Court.
Akano, 65, was executed Tuesday morning [April 6, 2010] in northeast Liaoning Province, Xinhua quoted the announcement as saying, the 1st time China has executed a Japanese national since the 2 countries normalized diplomatic relations in 1972.
Akano was convicted in 2008 of attempting to smuggle 2.5 kilograms of stimulant drugs from China to Japan with an accomplice in 2006.
China has said 3 more Japanese men on death row in China in separate drug smuggling cases are expected to be executed within the next few days, underlining Beijing's strict treatment of both Chinese and foreign criminals given a sharp increase in drug-related crimes in the country.
Akano met his family at a detention facility in Dalian in the province on Monday, according to a source involved in Japan-China relations.
China notified Japan of the intention to execute Akano on March 29. The Dalian Intermediate People's Court sentenced him to death in June 2008.
He appealed, but the sentence was finalized when the High People's Court of Liaoning upheld it in 2009.
Source: Japan Today, April 6, 2010
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