국제앰네스티는 작년 일본의 새 정부가 출범한 이래로 두 명의 남성에 대한 사형이 집행된 것을 비난했다.살인으로 유죄판결을 받은 33세 오가타 히데노리(Ogata Hidenori), 59세 시노자와 카즈오(Shinozawa Kazuo)는 28일 마지막 사형집행이 있은 후 정확히 1년 만에 도쿄 구금 센터에서 교수형에 처해졌다. 국제앰네스티 도나 게스트(Donna Guest) 아시아태평양 부국장은 “일본은 이러한 잔혹하고 비인간적이며 모멸적인 형벌을 폐지하려는 국제적 경향을 계속적으로 거스르고 있다”며 “사형 집행 없는 1주년을 기념할 수도 있었던 이 날은 일본이 국가적 살인으로 복귀하는 날이 되어버렸다”고 말했다. 이번 사형 집행은 2009년 9월 일본 민주당 정권 하 새 법무장관으로 임명된 케이코 치바(Keiko Chiba )가 처음으로 승인한 것이다. |
Japan executions of two men condemned
28 July 2010
Amnesty International has condemned the executions of two Japanese men in the first death sentences carried out since the country’s new government came to power last year.
Convicted killers Ogata Hidenori, 33, and Shinozawa Kazuo, 59, were hanged in the Tokyo Detention Centre on Wednesday, exactly one year after the last executions took place.
“Japan continues to go against the international trend toward abolition and mete out this cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment,” said Donna Guest, Deputy Director of the Asia Pacific Programme.
“A day that should have marked one year without executions has instead seen Japan return to carrying out state-sponsored killings.”
The executions are the first to be approved by Minister of Justice, Keiko Chiba, since she took office under the Democratic Party of Japan in September 2009.
Minister Chiba, who has previously spoken out against executions, announced plans to set up a working group on the death penalty within the Ministry of Justice, following the double hanging.
However, there are concerns among non-governmental organizations in Japan that more executions will take place outside of Tokyo in the coming days. There are currently 107 people on death row in Japan.
“A working group to discuss the death penalty is not enough. There needs to be an open and public debate and an immediate moratorium on executions while the discussion takes place,” said Donna Guest.
Shinozawa Kazuo was convicted of killing six women when he set fire to a jewellery shop in 2000, while Ogata Hidenori was sentenced to death for killing a man and a woman in 2003.
Japan executed seven people in 2009 but no death row inmates had been killed since 28 July 2009.
Executions in Japan are by hanging and are typically carried out in secret. Death row inmates are only notified on the morning of their execution and their families are usually informed only after the execution has taken place.
This means that prisoners live in constant fear of execution. Enduring these conditions for years or even decades has led to depression and mental illness among death row inmates.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases as a violation of the right to life. It calls on the government of Japan to immediately commute all death sentences and introduce a formal moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolition of the death penalty.
