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| Execution chamber at Tokyo Detention Center |
TOKYO — Japan hanged two death-row inmates on Friday, the justice ministry said, bringing the number of executions so far this year to five.
One of those was Junya Hattori, 40, who raped and kidnapped a 19-year-old college student in 2002 before burning her to death at a construction site in the central city of Mishima, the ministry said.
Kyozo Matsumura, 31, was hanged in Osaka for killing two of his relatives in 2007 and stealing their money.
In March, Japan resumed its use of capital punishment after a 20-month break with an unapologetic government minister signing death warrants for three multiple murderers.
Japan did not execute anybody in 2011, the first year in nearly two decades it did not carry out a single death sentence amid a muted debate on the rights and wrongs of the policy.
The executions on Friday were the first held under Justice Minister Makoto Taki, who was appointed in June.
Apart from the United States, Japan is the only major industrialized democracy to carry out capital punishment, a practice that has led to repeated protests from European governments and human rights groups.
Source: AFP, August 3, 2012
Japan hangs 2 prisoners on death row in country’s first executions since March
TOKYO — Japan has hanged two death row inmates in the country’s first executions since March.
Japan’s Justice Ministry identified the prisoners executed Friday as 40-year-old Junya Hattori and 31-year-old Kyozo Matsumura. Hattori was convicted of raping and killing a 19-year-old woman in 2002. Matsumura killed two of his relatives in 2007.
Japan is one of the few industrialized countries that have capital punishment, which is carried out by hanging. The lack of transparency in the system has been criticized by human rights groups, but capital punishment is generally supported by the public, according to opinion polls.
Japan had no executions in 2011. According to the Justice Ministry, it has 130 convicts on death row.
Source: The Associated Press, August 3, 2012
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