Japan 2001
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
News on Japan in 2001
- DECEMBER 28, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International Japan condemned the [December...
Amnesty International Japan condemned the [December 27] hangings and called on the country to halt all scheduled executions and abolish the death penalty
- DECEMBER 28, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama defended the government's...
Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama defended the government's policy of not publicizing the names of death-row inmates who are executed and predicted Japan will maintain capital punishment
- DECEMBER 27, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
A former Japanese mental patient charged with stabbing...
A former Japanese mental patient charged with stabbing eight schoolchildren to death in June pleaded guilty, saying he wanted to pay for the brutal crime with his life
- DECEMBER 27, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
Japan hanged two male death row inmates, Japan's first...
Japan hanged two male death row inmates, Japan's first executions in 13 months and the first under the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
- DECEMBER 25, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
A right-wing activist will be sent to the gallows after...
A right-wing activist will be sent to the gallows after an appeal court overruled a life term handed down at a district court
- DECEMBER 19, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
An appeal court upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced...
An appeal court upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced a former newspaper deliveryman to death for murdering a woman and her elderly mother in Tokyo after they refused to lend him money
- DECEMBER 18, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Utsunomiya District Court sentenced to death a...
The Utsunomiya District Court sentenced to death a 35-year-old man for murdering his wife and an acquaintance in the late 1980s in Tochigi Prefecture
- DECEMBER 13, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
Presiding Judge Yoshimasa Kawabe of the Tokyo High...
Presiding Judge Yoshimasa Kawabe of the Tokyo High Court affirmed the Tokyo District Court's 1998 death sentence against Kazuaki Okazaki, 41, finding him guilty of killing in 1989 Yokohama lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto, 33, his wife Satoko, 29, and their 1-yea
- DECEMBER 4, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
Shizuka Kamei, a former policy chief of the ruling...
Shizuka Kamei, a former policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and seven other lawmakers belonging to a group opposing capital punishment asked Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama not to carry out any further death sentences
- DECEMBER 3, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court upheld a death sentence for a man...
The Supreme Court upheld a death sentence for a man who killed four members of a family in 1992 in a murder-robbery when he was a minor
- NOVEMBER 20, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Osaka District Court sentenced Susumu Nakayama...
The Osaka District Court sentenced Susumu Nakayama a 53-year-old murderer to death for fatally stabbing Takemitsu Kikugawa, 37, his lover Minako Kobuchi, 40, a restaurant employee, on a street in Toyonaka in the Osaka prefecture, on February 19, 1998 with
- NOVEMBER 2, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
Shizuka Kamei, a former policy chief of the ruling...
Shizuka Kamei, a former policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), was elected head of a group of 76 Diet members who want to abolish the death penalty in Japan
- OCTOBER 18, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
Japan must abolish the death penalty in order to eliminate...
Japan must abolish the death penalty in order to eliminate the possibility of people mistakenly being put to death on false charges, senior Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmaker Shizuka Kamei said
- OCTOBER 10, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Fukuoka High Court upheld a death penalty given...
The Fukuoka High Court upheld a death penalty given to a 63-year-old man for abducting and murdering two elementary school girls in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1992
- SEPTEMBER 27, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Osaka High Court upheld a death sentence against...
The Osaka High Court upheld a death sentence against a former gang leader for robbing and murdering a wealthy man and his daughter in Kobe and later burning their bodies in 1991
- SEPTEMBER 25, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court upheld a death sentence for a man...
The Supreme Court upheld a death sentence for a man who killed and robbed two workmates
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Kawasaki branch of Yokohama District Court sentenced...
The Kawasaki branch of Yokohama District Court sentenced a Chinese man to death for a murder-robbery in 1999 in which three Chinese were stabbed to death and another three injured
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The families of those killed in June knife killings...
The families of those killed in June knife killings at Ikeda Elementary School in Osaka Prefecture presented prosecutors with a petition of about 620,000 names calling for defendant Mamoru Takuma to be executed, the families said
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
An appeal against the death sentence handed down to...
An appeal against the death sentence handed down to one of the Tokyo twins who brutally killed two men to take over their successful S&M club business in 1995 was rejected by the Tokyo High Court
- JULY 30, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
It is estimated that there are about 50 death-row inmates...
It is estimated that there are about 50 death-row inmates in Japan
- JULY 9, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Nagoya District Court sentenced one of three defendants...
The Nagoya District Court sentenced one of three defendants to death for killing four men over a period of eleven days in 1994 in the Gifu, Aichi and Osaka prefectures
- JUNE 28, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Tokyo High Court upheld a 1997 lower court ruling...
The Tokyo High Court upheld a 1997 lower court ruling that sentenced Tsutomu Miyazaki, a former printing shop assistant, to death for the murder of four girls in 1988-1989 in Tokyo and the neighboring Saitama Prefecture
- JUNE 25, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Council of Europe endorsed an in-house report calling...
The Council of Europe endorsed an in-house report calling for the abolition of the death penalty in Japan and the United States, putting at risk their observer status in the 43-member organization dedicated to the promotion of democracy and human rights
- JUNE 21, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
Sakae Menda, 76, a former Japanese death row inmate...
Sakae Menda, 76, a former Japanese death row inmate who had spent 32 years on death row for a crime he did not commit, appealed to do away with capital punishment worldwide at the opening of the first world congress against the death penalty in Strasbourg
- JUNE 20, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Miyazaki District Court sentenced a 44-year-old...
The Miyazaki District Court sentenced a 44-year-old woman to death for murdering and robbing two women in Miyazaki Prefecture in 1996 and 1997 and abandoning their bodies
- JUNE 14, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Nagoya High Court sentenced two men to death for...
The Nagoya High Court sentenced two men to death for double murder and robbery in 1994 and 1995
- JUNE 8, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
A 37-year-old man stabbed eight children to death with...
A 37-year-old man stabbed eight children to death with a kitchen knife and injured 15 other people, including two teachers, at an elementary school in Ikeda in the Osaka Prefecture
- JUNE 4, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
Six Diet members from various political parties opposing...
Six Diet members from various political parties opposing capital punishment met with Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama to request that she make efforts to have the death penalty abolished and allow them to tour execution sites, Justice Ministry officials s
- JUNE 1, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Tokyo High Court upheld a lower court ruling condemning...
The Tokyo High Court upheld a lower court ruling condemning Shinichi Shimoyama to death for his 1993 crime orgy in which he killed and robbed three people across Japan
- MAY 17, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Tokyo High Court sentenced Kaoru Okashita, 54,...
The Tokyo High Court sentenced Kaoru Okashita, 54, a former real estate broker, to death for murdering Ume Endo, 82, an apartment owner, in Tokyo on October 1, 1989, after swindling her out of land by forging a sales contract