25th June, 2015
Japan on Thursday confirmed the execution of one death-row inmate by hanging, in the first execution since August, bringing the total number for the current administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to 12.
Justice Minister, Yoko Kamikawa, said Tsukasa Kanda, 44, a newspaper salesman, was sentenced to death for killing a woman in 2007 in Nagoya, central Japan, after he and two accomplices met through an internet site for finding “crime mates.”
She described the crime as “brutal” and distressing to the victim’s family.
“I ordered the execution after very careful consideration.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International Japan, has expressed its “strong protest” against the execution, and criticised the government for avoiding a discussion about capital punishment.
The group added that a total of 22 people have been hanged under Abe, adding that 10 were executed under his first administration, which lasted a year up to September 2007.
The group noted that Japan has 129 death-row inmates, including Shoko Asahara, the founder of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, and his followers.
It said they were handed death sentences for the 1995 gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, which killed 13 and made thousands ill.
Japan was one of the few major industrialised countries to administer capital punishment, alongside the US.