日本司法大開殺戒

殺人犯必死

Japan Hangs Three Convicted Killers
New York Times - United States
By MARTIN FOSTER TOKYO — Three convicted murderers were hanged on Tuesday, the Justice Ministry said, a sign that Japan is accelerating the pace of ...

TOKYO — Three convicted murderers were hanged on Tuesday, the Justice Ministry said, a sign that Japan is accelerating the pace of executions amid a rise in violent crime.

Tsutomu Miyazaki, 45, was hanged for the murder of four young girls he mutilated and cannibalized. In a case that focused on the defendant’s mental ability to stand trial, Mr. Miyazaki told the court that the girls were killed by a “mouse-man.” He asked the judge for a bicycle to pedal while in prison.

Also executed were Shinji Mutsuda, 37, who robbed and murdered two people before throwing their bodies into the ocean, and Yoshio Yamasaki, 73, who killed two people for insurance money.

That brought the number of executions under Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama, who took office last August, to 13, the highest rate of executions in the post-World War II period.

“I ordered their executions because the cases were of indescribable cruelty,” Mr. Hatoyama said. “We are pursuing executions in order to achieve justice and firmly protect the rule of law.”

On April 10, four people were executed in a single day on orders from Mr. Hatoyama.

The acceleration in executions, which must be approved by the minister of justice, comes at a time of rising crime in Japan. Last week, the country was stunned by a stabbing rampage in Akihabara, a shopping district in Tokyo, that left seven dead.

“I think the timing of today’s executions on the heels of the Akihabara killings,” said Jeff Kingston, director of Asia studies at Temple University Japan, “was designed to send out a reassuring message to the Japanese people that the full sentence will be carried out.” Although organizations opposing the death sentence do exist in Japan, the lack of reaction from the Japanese general public suggests there is support for executions.

Amnesty International Japan protested the hangings on Tuesday and demanded that Japan abolish capital punishment, The Associated Press reported. But Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said Tuesday there was no need for a change, citing popular support for the death penalty.

Mr. Kingston expressed doubt that Japan would join the countries that have, or are looking to abolish, the death sentence.

“Japan is out of step with the rest of the world on the death penalty,” Kingston said. “But they appear to be tied to this policy, which does not appear to be a strong deterrent.”