Japan executes inmate sentenced in lay judge trial for first time - report

18.12.2015 17:29

Japan carried out the first execution Friday [18 December] of an inmate sentenced to death in a lay judge trial following the country's introduction of the judicial system in 2009, sources close to the matter 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 had been 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.

Justice Minister Mitsuhide Iwaki, who ordered the executions for the first time since assuming the post in October, said at a press conference that he believes professional and lay judges handed down a death sentence to Tsuda "after careful deliberations."

The lay judge system was introduced to reflect citizens' views in criminal court proceeding.

During the lay judge trial, Tsuda apologized to relatives of the victims, saying he would "expiate his crime with his own life." While his defense counsel argued that Tsuda's crime had not been premeditated, the Yokohama District Court sentenced him to death in June 2011.

His defense counsel appealed the ruling to the Tokyo High Court, but the death sentence was finalized in July 2011 after Tsuda withdrew his appeal.
With the latest hangings, the total number of executions under the second Shinzo Abe administration launched in December 2012 has risen to 14.

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