JAPAN. TOP COURT LETS DEATH PENALTY STAND FOR FORMER RIGHT-WINGER

the Supreme Court rejected an appeal against the death penalty for Takehiko Tanaka, a 42-year-old former right-wing group member found guilty of murdering two men in 1992 and 1994, letting stand a high court ruling in favour of capital punishment. Justice Toyozo Ueda who presided over the top court's No. 3 petty bench, said in handing down the ruling that the murders were "premeditated, brutal and cruel crimes. The death penalty is inevitable as he played a central role."
According to the ruling, Tanaka, in conspiracy with others, strangled car salesman Toshiaki Ichikawa, 29, over money troubles in Moriguchi, Osaka Prefecture, in February 1992 and buried his body.
In April 1994, Tanaka strangled Haruo Fujita, 54, a then senior right-wing group member, in Kawachinagano, Osaka Prefecture. He also stole 10 million yen in cash and Fujita's belongings and dumped the body into Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture, near Osaka.
The Sakai Branch of the Osaka District Court sentenced Tanaka to life imprisonment in March 2000. But the Osaka High Court upgraded the penalty to the death sentence in December 2001.