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| At a press conference held by seven groups opposed to capital punishment, Hideaki Nakagawa, executive director of Amnesty International Japan, said that "Society as a whole must consider whether the death penalty is absolutely necessary." Police officers check a truck that Tomohiro Kato used to ram through pedestrians during his rampage in Tokyo’s Akihabara district on June 8, 2008. (File photo by=KYODO) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] TOKYO: Japan executed a man on Tuesday over a 2008 rampage in Tokyo's Akihabara district in which seven people were killed and 10 others injured, the justice minister said, marking the country's first hanging since last December, Kyodo reported.
Tomohiro Kato, 39, ran down pedestrians with a truck in a vehicle-free pedestrian zone in the district on June 8, 2008, killing three people and injuring two. After exiting the vehicle, he fatally stabbed four other people with a dagger and injured another eight, according to the ruling finalized in 2015. Justice Minister Yoshihisa Furukawa said the incident had had a "significant impact on society as it deprived seven people of their precious lives," telling a news conference that he had signed the order last Friday after "careful and then more careful consideration."
The execution was the second under the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who took office in October last year. Three death-row inmates were hanged in December for their roles in multiple murders. The execution brought the total number of death-row inmates in the country to 106. Meanwhile, Japan's capital punishment system has long drawn international criticism, with opponents calling for greater transparency in the timing of executions as death-row inmates are typically notified just hours before or not given prior notification at all.
