Chiba: It was my duty to watch / Justice minister says death penalty discussions should start anew

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Justice Minister Keiko Chiba was present to witness two executions Wednesday morning at the Tokyo Detention House in Adachi Ward, Tokyo, an action rarely performed by a justice minister.

Chiba began a news conference held at 11 a.m. in the Justice Ministry's press briefing room by saying, "Based on my orders, the death sentences of two people have been enforced."

She revealed the names of the two prisoners--Kazuo Shinozawa, 59, and Hidenori Ogata, 33--and briefed the press corps on the details of their cases in a detached tone, before revealing she was present at the executions.

"As I thought it was my responsibility to see out the executions, I attended. I confirmed with my own eyes that the executions were appropriately enforced," she said.

Chiba paused at length, apparently taking time to gather her thoughts.

"It made me think deeply about the death penalty afresh...I realized the necessity of discussing the death penalty from the bottom up, so I've decided to launch a study panel," she said.

Asked about her personal impression of the executions, Chiba said: "I attended to witness the executions only because I ordered them. That's all I can say."

Noting her former membership in the Japan Parliamentary League Against the Death Penalty, a reporter asked Chiba if she had reversed her opposition to the death penalty.

Chiba only replied, "I think it will be something for this country's people to decide, if after various discussions the majority of public opinion is for the death penalty to be abolished."

A ministry official said the decision to witness the executions was Chiba's.

"It was the minister herself who wanted to attend," the official said. "I've never heard of a minister attending an execution. She probably thought it was her responsibility to see out the executions since it was her orders that took human lives."

The Criminal Procedure Code stipulates that an execution order must be signed by the justice minister. The order must be carried out within five days of its receipt by the prosecutor in charge.

A prisoner must be put to death by hanging at the detention facility where he or she has been detained, with a prosecutor, a prosecutor's assistant officer and the warden of the facility in attendance.

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Orders were signed Saturday

Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Yukio Edano said Wednesday that Chiba had signed the two execution orders on Saturday.

"I think she completed the procedures for ordering the death penalties calmly, and according to legal requirements," Edano told reporters in the Diet Building.

"I've heard that she signed the execution orders on Saturday," he said.

Asked to comment on criticism over Chiba's retaining her post despite failing to win reelection to the House of Councillors in the latest election, Edano said the criticism was not appropriate.

Chiba's term as an upper house member expired Sunday.

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Victims' kin express relief

Relatives of people killed by Kazuo Shinozawa, one of the two prisoners executed on Wednesday, expressed feelings of vindication and relief later in the day.

Toru Arai's wife, Kimiko Arai, was one of six people who died in 2000 in Shinozawa's robbery, murder and arson attack at a Jewelry Tsutsumi store in Utsunomiya. She was the store manager.

Arai, 62, said he felt relief upon hearing Shinozawa had been executed.

"I feel relieved. He committed such a serious crime. I wanted him to pay for it as soon as possible," he said. "I feel it's finally over, but why did it take so long? I hope society will have fewer people who are victimized like my wife was."

Arai said he kept his wife's ashes in his home for more than five years after her death, but recently made a grave and placed them in it.

Sachiko Asanuma was the youngest person killed in the Utsunomiya incident. Aged 22 at the time, she had married just six months earlier.

Asanuma's mother, Hiroko Nakajima, said she had wanted to watch the culprit be hanged.

"If possible, I wanted the execution to be carried out in front of me. It took such a long time. I want to tell my daughter that it had finally been done," Nakajima, 61, told The Yomiuri Shimbun.

The mother of Masae Tachikawa, who also died in the Utsunomiya incident, said Shinozawa's execution was "a natural outcome."

"I can't forget the case, even now," she said.

Tachikawa's father said: "[His hanging] was a matter of course, but my feelings are a little complicated as it came so suddenly. It's the job of the justice minister to press his or her seal on the execution order, but the previous ministers didn't do it. They gave me the impression they simply didn't want to."

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Protests and acceptance

Human rights group Amnesty International Japan issued a statement of protest against the executions.

The organization, which advocates abolition of the death penalty, noted that the executions were carried out one year to the day since the last executions in the nation.

Amnesty's statement expressed anger toward and strong disappointment in Chiba, who has previously made remarks suggesting use of the death penalty should be reassessed.

However, Isao Okamura, head of the National Association of Crime Victims and Surviving Families, said it was all but inevitable that the men would be executed.

"It wasn't surprising. There have been no executions for one year, so the number of prisoners on death row has been rising like never before. The action came rather late in the day," Okamura said.