May 18
TWO MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN JAPAN
The Kokura Branch of the Fukuoka District Court sentenced two
men to death for murdering two people in January 2002. The court
gave the death penalty to former restaurant owner Masayoshi
Takemoto, 31, and his 47-year-old brother by adoption Tadashi
Takemoto, unemployed, in line with the prosecutors' sentencing
request.
The two were convicted of conspiracy in the murder of Hachiro
Nakamura, 73, stealing money, and torching his house in Kitakyushu,
Fukuoka Prefecture, and the murder of Terutaka Asahina, a 62-year-old
homeless man, in Usa, Oita Prefecture, in an attempt to collect life
insurance money.
According to the ruling, the two defendants arranged for a man
in Yamaguchi Prefecture to adopt them as his sons -- for the
purposes of the insurance fraud scheme.
Tadashi Takemoto then adopted another unrelated man as his son
under the name of Takayuki Takemoto and this man took part in the
conspiracy to murder Asahina, the indictment said.
According to the ruling, Tadashi Takemoto, acting on Masayoshi's
orders, stabbed Nakamura to death, stole cash and set the victim's
house on fire.
In the Asahina murder case, the two attempted to pass off Asahina's
body as that of Tadashi Takemoto, so as to collect money on a life
insurance policy taken out on the latter.
The death penalty in Japan is provided for by the Criminal Procedure
Law and by the Penal Code for a number of offences (13) but, in
practice is applied only for murder.
The Government is extremely secretive about executions.
Inmates can be held on death row for decades, and they are often
not informed of their execution dates until the day of the hanging.
Families and attorneys are usually informed after the execution.
The executions, which typically take place in the summer and at
year's end, are conducted when Parliament is in recess, to avoid
parliamentary discussion.
Prisoners are isolated in narrow solitary cells monitored by
TV cameras 24 hours a day. Death is by hanging, with prisoners,
handcuffed and blindfolded, placed over a trapdoor that is sprung
open without warning.
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