Man hangs for triple murders

TOKYO: Japan carried out its first execution of an inmate sentenced to death yesterday in a lay judge trial following the country’s introduction of the judicial system in 2009, Justice Minister Mitsuhide Iwaki said.

Along with Sumitoshi Tsuda, 63, another death row inmate, Kazuyuki Wakabayashi, 39, was hanged in the first executions in Japan since June.

Tsuda was convicted of killing his landlord Akihito Shibata, 73, Shibata’s brother Yoshiaki, 71, as well as Yoshiaki’s wife Toshiko, 68, in May 2009 at an apartment building in Kawasaki, Kanagawa prefecture.

Wakabayashi was sentenced to death for killing Noriko Ueno, a 52-year-old office worker, and her 24-year-old daughter Yuki after breaking into their home in the town of Hirono, Iwate prefecture, in July 2006. He later abandoned their bodies in nearby mountains and stole 20,000 yen (723,740 baht) in cash from the victims.

Anti-death penalty organisation Amnesty International Japan protested against the executions and urged the Japanese government to abolish the death penalty.

The group said sentencing a person to death is a grave decision for citizen judges and called for more public disclosure regarding capital punishment.

Mr Iwaki, who ordered executions for the first time since assuming the post in October, said at a news conference that he believes professional and lay judges handed down the death sentence to Tsuda “after careful deliberations”.

The minister also stressed that he signed the papers to order the executions respecting the decision of the citizen judges. “I carried out my duties [as justice minister] given the significant decision of the lay judges,” Mr Iwaki said.

Mr Iwaki condemned Tsuda and Wakabayashi, saying they “took irreplaceable lives for selfish purposes” and that the agony inflicted on the families of the victims will never be healed.

Mr Iwaki declined to comment when asked why the two men were chosen for Friday’s hangings and about future executions.

The minister also said counselling for lay judges needs to be studied after a citizen judge in Tsuda’s trial said ordinary people should not be involved in determining cases in which prosecutors could demand the death penalty. The lay judge system was introduced to reflect citizens’ views in criminal court proceedings.

The number of death row inmates in Japan stands at 126.