Japan 2006
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
News on Japan in 2006
- DECEMBER 28, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
JAPANESE MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN CHINA ON DRUG SMUGGLING CHARGES
a court in China sentenced a Japanese man to death on drug smuggling charges...
- DECEMBER 26, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING 5 BY LACING WINE LOSES RIGHT TO RETRIAL
the Nagoya High Court, Japan, revoked an earlier decision it made to retry Masaru Okunishi, an 80 year old man sentenced to death for fatally poising five people.
- DECEMBER 26, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPANESE MINISTER VOWS MORE EXECUTIONS
Japan’s justice minister vowed to carry out more executions after the country’s first hangings in over a year, saying the vast majority of the public supported the death penalty.
- DECEMBER 25, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN EXECUTES 4 PRISONERS BY HANGING
four Japanese inmates on death row were hanged, officials and news reports said, the first executions to take place in Japan since September 2005.
- DECEMBER 22, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. DEATH PENALTY UPHELD FOR MURDER
the Tokyo High Court, Japan, upheld a lower court-imposed death sentence on Soji Fujisaki, convicted of robbing and murdering two women in their 70s in January 2005 in Hokota, Ibaraki Prefecture.
- DECEMBER 19, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING 4 PEOPLE
Katsumi Morita was sentenced to death for murdering...
- DECEMBER 15, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF STEPSON'S WIFE AND CHILD
Takemitsu Mori was sentenced to death for murdering a woman and her infant son at their apartment.
- DECEMBER 13, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. JOBLESS MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF SISTERS
Yukio Yamaji, 23, was sentenced to death for robbery, murder and rape by the Osaka District Court for sneaking into the home of a woman and her younger sister and murdering them.
- DECEMBER 5, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. MAN GETS DEATH SENTENCE FOR KILLING 2 WOMEN IN FUKUSHIMA PREF.
the Sendai High Court, Japan, sentenced a 53-year-old man to death for killing a woman and her daughter and stealing some 50,000 yen in cash in Fukushima Prefecture in 2004, scrapping a sentence of life imprisonment imposed by a lower court.
- NOVEMBER 24, 2006South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. TOP COURT REJECTS APPEAL AGAINST DEATH SENTENCE FOR SOUTH KOREAN
Japan’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal by a South Korean man sentenced to death for killing two people in 1995 in Aichi and Fukuoka prefectures, a move that will let his death sentence stand.
- NOVEMBER 13, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING 3 WOMEN IN FUKUOKA PREFECTURE
the Fukuoka District Court, Japan, sentenced to death Yasunori Suzuki, 37, for murdering three women in Fukuoka Prefecture.
- NOVEMBER 2, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF 2 WOMEN IN GIFU, OSAKA
the Osaka District Court, Japan, sentenced Kenji...
- OCTOBER 27, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. DELAYING HANGING OF INMATES MAY RESULT IN DISTRUST IN LAW: NAGASE
Justice Minister Jinen Nagase said that people could lose trust in the rule of law if the Japanese government continues to spend too much time beyond a legal limit to execute a death-row inmate after the verdict becomes final in the criminal trial.
- OCTOBER 12, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. DEATH PENALTY UPHELD FOR MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING WIFE, FRIEND
the Supreme Court turned down an appeal from Katsuhisa Cho, a man who was given the death penalty for killing his wife and a friend in the late 1980s.
- OCTOBER 11, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. EX-CONSTRUCTION BOSS HANDED DEATH SENTENCE OVER YAMANASHI KILLINGS
former construction company boss Yoshihiro Asa, 57, accused of murder and injury resulting in death after three bodies were uncovered at a camp site in Yamanashi Prefecture in 2003, was sentenced to death in a ruling at the Kofu District Court, Japan.
- OCTOBER 10, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. KOBAYASHI WITHDRAWS APPEAL OVER DEATH SENTENCE
Kaoru Kobayashi withdrew his appeal against his death sentence for kidnapping and killing a 7-year-old girl in Japan’s Nara Prefecture in 2004, his defence counsel said.
- OCTOBER 2, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN COURT SENTENCES CHINESE MAN TO DEATH
a Japanese court sentenced to death a Chinese man for killing and robbing a Japanese couple who had rented him an apartment.
- SEPTEMBER 29, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE ON MAN FOR MURDER OF 2
the Tokyo High Court upheld the death sentence on a man for killing two pachinko parlor employees in Gunma Prefecture in 2003.
- SEPTEMBER 28, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. DEATH SENTENCE FOR EX-GANGSTER UPHELD
the Tokyo High Court, Japan, upheld a death sentence against a former gang member who was convicted of shooting dead five other gangsters in December 2003.
- SEPTEMBER 28, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. DEATH SENTENCE AGAINST ARSONIST UPHELD
the Tokyo High Court, Japan, rejected an appeal by an arsonist who was sentenced to death by a lower court for killing four people by setting fire to their home in Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture, in 2003.
- SEPTEMBER 26, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR NARA SCHOOLGIRL MURDER
the Nara District Court in Japan handed down the death penalty to Kaoru Kobayashi, convicted of murdering 7-year-old schoolgirl Kaede Ariyama after kidnapping her on November 17, 2004. Kobayashi was handed the death penalty after being convicted of abduct
- SEPTEMBER 26, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. HIGH COURT OVERTURNS DEATH SENTENCE, GIVES LIFE TERM FOR FATAL ARSON
the Tokyo High Court, Japan, overturned a lower court's death sentence and gave Daizo Fukushima...
- SEPTEMBER 26, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. NEW GOVERNMENT LEAVES DOOR OPEN TO EXECUTIONS
Japan’s new justice minister left open the door to executions after his predecessor refused to authorize any hangings.
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. JUSTICE MINISTER STILL REFUSES TO SIGN EXECUTION ORDERS
Justice Minister Seiken Sugiura has expressed his unwillingness to give the go-ahead for executions before he steps down on September 26 with the outgoing Cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, according to sources.
- SEPTEMBER 21, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR ROBBING, KILLING TWO IN KUMAMOTO PREF.
the Kumamoto District Court sentenced Yukinori Matsuda to death for robbing and killing two people in Kumamoto Prefecture in 2003. Matsuda, 33, stabbed Keiko Kinoshita...
- SEPTEMBER 21, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
Japan's Supreme Court dismissed a 49-year-old Miyazaki...
Japan's Supreme Court dismissed a 49-year-old Miyazaki woman's appeal against the death penalty for killing and robbing two women of money before abandoning their bodies in the late 1990s.
- SEPTEMBER 15, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. CULT LEADER TO HANG FOR TOKYO SUBWAY ATTACK
Shoko Asahara, a former cult leader who masterminded a poison gas attack on Tokyo subway trains in 1995, had his appeal against the death penalty rejected by Japan's Supreme Court.
- SEPTEMBER 8, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. TOP COURT UPHOLDS DEATH PENALTY ON MAN FOR SLAYING 2 GIRLS IN 1992
Japan's Supreme Court upheld the death penalty given to a man for abducting and murdering two 7-year-old girls in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1992. The top court's five-justice second petty bench rejected an appeal from Michitoshi Kuma, 68, who had claimed inno
- SEPTEMBER 7, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. TOP COURT REJECTS APPEAL OF MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH
Japan’s Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by a man who was sentenced to death for killing a couple in a robbery-murder case in 1997 in Osaka.
- AUGUST 24, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. DOOMSDAY CULT CHEMIST APPEALS DEATH SENTENCE
Masami Tsuchiya, a 41 year old chemist sentenced to death for...