The ministry said Kenichi Tajiri, 45, was hanged for killing two women in two murder-robbery cases in Kumamoto, southwestern Japan. The latest execution is the second involving an inmate who was sentenced to death in a lay judge trial. Japan’s lay judge system, in which three professional and six lay judges hear a case, began in 2009.
Japan executes inmate for murdering two women in 2004
This was the first execution ordered by Justice Minister Katsutoshi Kaneda since he assumed his post in August, with the number of death row inmates in Japan now standing at 128.
“This is an extremely cruel case in which the precious lives of the victims were taken for selfish purposes,” Kaneda told a press conference, adding he gave the order after careful consideration.
According to the finalized ruling, Tajiri killed Chizuko Nakatsu, 49, during a robbery in Uto, Kumamoto Prefecture, in March 2004, in which he stole about 180,000 yen in cash, and murdered Yoshiko Migita, 65, and seriously injured her husband during a robbery in Kumamoto city in February 2011 in which he stole about 100,000 yen.
The justice minister said in an interview shortly after he took office that the issue of the death penalty needs to be handled carefully as it involves the taking of human life, but also noted that court judgments must be strictly carried out in a nation governed by law.
Kaneda’s predecessor as justice minister, Mitsuhide Iwaki, ordered four executions in the 10 months he was in office, including that of the first person to be convicted in a capital punishment case that went before lay judges.
In October, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations issued a declaration proposing the abolition of the death penalty by 2020 for the first time as the organization.
source: japantoday.com
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