- The two death row prisoners are suing the Japanese government because the Japanese government will notify the prisoners of their execution a few hours in advance.
- Two prisoners believed that the current system was illegal and called on the prisoners to be notified in advance.
- Documents and news archives show that Japan used to pay more attention to death row prisoners, but it stopped around 1975.
Two death row inmates are suing the Japanese government because the Japanese government notified the prisoners of their execution system a few hours before the execution, believing that this would cause psychological distress.
With more than 100 prisoners awaiting execution, Japan is one of the few developed countries that still retain the death penalty. Executions are usually executed long after the sentence is pronounced, always by hanging.
For decades, the authorities told death inmates a few hours before the execution.
Two prisoners believed that the current system was illegal and called on the prisoners to be notified in advance.
According to their lawyers, the lawsuit filed in the Osaka District Court on Thursday also seeks compensation of 193,000 US dollars to compensate them for the suffering caused by the uncertain date of execution.
“This tramples on human dignity,” Ueda told AFP.
He explained that death row prisoners are usually told one to two hours before execution that they do not have time to see a lawyer or file a complaint.
He added:
They live in fear and think “maybe today is today” when they hear the sound of the guard wearing shoes every morning.
Documents and news archives show that Japan used to pay more attention to death row prisoners, but it stopped around 1975.
Japan executed 3 and 15 prisoners in 2019 and 2018 respectively-13 of them were from the Aum Shinrikyo cult, which carried out a deadly sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995.
Blindfolded prisoners, usually serial murderers, are taken to a place with their feet tied and hands handcuffed, and then the trapdoor opens under them.
The mechanism is triggered by a button in an adjacent room, pressed by several police officers at the same time, and no one knows which button is “active”.
Ueda stated that Japan “didn’t disclose much information about the death penalty”, which means that there is very little public discussion.
Despite international criticism, including human rights organizations, public support for the death penalty remains high.
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