Activists in strongly anti-death penalty Italy picketed...

Activists in strongly anti-death penalty Italy picketed outside the Japanese Embassy in protest of Japan's hanging of three murderers. The protest was called by the anti-capital punishment group Hands off Cain, which said the demonstration marked the start of its campaign for the abolishment of the death penalty in Japan. "In recent years we've protested against the USA, but we forgot there is a second great democracy, Japan, where the death sentence is legal," Sergio D'Elia, the group's secretary, said. "Japan is modelling itself on China, which is not a democracy and where executions are hidden from the public," D'Elia said. About 10 activists took part, waving signs with messages like "Stop Killing." Sen. Pietro Milio, a lawmaker allied with the Radical Party, said he had asked for a parliamentary inquiry on the executions.