Sept. 14
JAPAN:
A quick execution for killer Takuma -- He never expressed remorse for
killing 8 children.
Mamoru Takuma, who slaughtered 8 children at an elementary school and
hurled insults instead of apologies at the victims' families, was executed
Tuesday after less than a year on death row, sources said.
It usually takes several years before death-row inmates are sent to the
gallows. But in Takuma's case, the mass murderer apparently received his
last wish: a speedy execution.
Takuma, 40, was sentenced to death in August 2003 at the Osaka District
Court. Takuma withdrew his lawyers' appeal, and his sentence was finalized
in September that year.
According to the ruling, Takuma broke into Ikeda Elementary School in
Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, on June 8, 2001. His knife-wielding rampage left
8 pupils, aged 6 to 8, dead and 15 other children and teachers injured.
During the trial, Takuma repeatedly uttered abusive words at the victims'
grieving families.
Asked in court why he targeted Ikeda school, an elite institution attached
to Osaka Kyoiku University, Takuma said, "I want others to know the
unreasonableness that high-achieving children could be killed at any
time."
He said in his first hearing that he wanted to "atone" for his crime with
his life, but he later insisted he had borrowed the word from news stories
and would never apologize.
Takuma never publicly expressed remorse for his crime.
Instead, he wrote a letter to his chief attorney, Shigeki Todani, saying
that he wanted to be executed "within 6 months, or 3 months if possible."
In another letter, the murderer said, "I don't want to be trapped alive
like this any longer." Takuma was even preparing to sue the state for
failing to execute him within 6 months as required by law.
The speedy execution Tuesday left mixed feelings among families of the
victims. The man who had shattered so many lives was dead, but his abrupt
demise left many questions unanswered.
"Did he change his mind and gain a feeling of atonement? I have
complicated feelings because he was executed without our knowing that,"
said a man who lost his daughter in the massacre. "If the execution just
fulfilled his wish, it is meaningless."
Todani, Takuma's attorney, said he regretted being unable to persuade
Takuma to apologize.
"I wonder if the (state) could not have waited a little longer so he might
change his mind," he said.
Educational programs to help inmates atone for their deeds and
rehabilitate themselves are offered in prison, but none is given to
death-row convicts.
The criminal procedure law stipulates that the justice minister should
order an execution within six months after a death sentence is finalized.
But execution is often delayed, especially when convicts seek a retrial or
have mental or physical problems due to an extended detention period.
According to citizens groups against capital punishment, more than 10 of
the 62 convicts sentenced to die have remained on death row for more than
a decade.
Observers say Takuma's early execution would gain social understanding
because there is no doubt he committed the crime, he expressed no remorse,
and his actions causes great pain to the victims' families.
Takuma was 1 of 2 convicts executed Tuesday, the sources said. The other
was former gangster Sueo Shimasaki, 59, executed in Fukuoka.
Shimasaki was convicted on 11 counts, including murder and robbery. His
death sentence was finalized in March 1999.
The Asahi Shimbun)
CANADA:
McDonough leads delegation to congress against capital punishment
Halifax MP Alexa McDonough will lead a delegation to Montreal to
participate in the Second World Congress Against the Death Penalty.
McDonough says although Canada has long since abolished capital punishment
she's amazed by the number of Canadians who feel it should be reinstated.
McDonough says aside from the moral question of the state putting someone
to death there are several studies that show it does not act as a
deterrent to violent crime.
She says Canadians are generally not aware that their government is also
deporting foreign nationals who face the death penalty at home.
The head of an international abolitionist group says killing terrorists
may in some perverse way help them meet their goal.
Michel Taube of Together Against The Death Penalty says a Jihadi or holy
warrior, for example, would see death as victory.
The congress opens October 6th.
(source: Canadian Press)
RWANDA:
President Kagame Confirms that Rwanda May Waive Death Penalty for UN
Trials
Rwandan president Paul Kagame on Saturday said that he was ready to waive
the death penalty if that was a condition for the UN International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to transfer some of its trials to
Rwandan national courts.
"I would be of the idea that we can try them without death penalty. This
could be an exception", Kagame told reporters on the first anniversary of
his election.
The confirmation will clear up confusion arising from a news story in a
local newspaper, 'The New Times' which last month quoted the Rwandan envoy
to the ICTR as saying that Rwanda would not give suspects from the ICTR
any special treatment. This was in contradiction to the position stated by
all Rwandan authorities in the past.
The ICTR insists that it would not transfer any trials to Rwandan courts
if there were no guarantee that they will not be liable to the death
penalty.
"The ICTR could do their work here the way they do it in Arusha. We can
benefit from the fact that the trials are taking place here", Kagame said.
Under Rwandan law, all the genocide suspects that are likely to be
transferred to Rwanda fall into the highest category of suspects and would
therefore be sentenced to death if convicted. The ICTR is planning to
transfer cases to Rwanda and other able and willing countries in a bid to
meet a 2008 completion deadline set by the UN.
(source: Hirondelle News Agency)
