Japan executes man who committed murders as minor

December 19, 2017

Tokyo- Japan's Justice Ministry said Tuesday it has executed two prisoners, including a 44-year-old convicted murderer who was 19 when he committed multiple counts of murder in 1992.

This is the first time in 20 years that Japan has carried out capital punishment for a death-row inmate who was a minor at the time of committing the crime.

Teruhiko Seki was sentenced to death for killing four members of a family in Ichikawa in Chiba Prefecture, eastern Japan, in March 1992.

The other inmate was Kiyoshi Matsui, 69, who was convicted of murdering a woman and her parents in Gunma Prefecture, eastern Japan, in 1994.

Both inmates were seeking a retrial of their cases.

This was the first execution of inmates in Japan since July this year. Under the current administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which was launched in December 2012, the number of convicts who were executed now stands at 21.

It was also the first death-row inmate execution since Yoko Kamikawa was reappointed as justice minister in a cabinet reshuffle in August. She approved the execution of one inmate when she was previously justice minister in 2015.

The number of death-row inmates in Japan now stands at 122, excluding Iwao Hakamada, 81, who was released in 2014 following a court decision to grant him a retrial over a 1966 murder case.

"The two inmates committed brutal crimes that caused ultimate sorrow to the victims' families," Kamikawa said at a press conference on Tuesday, adding that she ordered the latest executions after very carefully examining the cases.

She declined to make a specific comment on the case of Seki, who was under age when he murdered the four victims, in order to avoid effects on the execution of death-row inmates in the future.

Seki broke into the house of a 42-year-old company executive in Ichikawa in March 1992 in an attempt to steal money to meet a demand from an organized crime group.

Seki stole money and a bank passbook and killed the company executive, his mother, 83, his wife, 36, and his second daughter, 4. The eldest daughter, then 15, was injured in the attack.

In 2001, the Supreme Court upheld lower court rulings that sentenced Seki to death for robbery-murder, finalizing the capital punishment for him.

The other inmate, Matsui, murdered a 42-year-old woman whom he was dating by hitting her in the face with a hammer on a street in Annaka in Gunma in February 1994. He also killed her parents after intruding into their house in the city.

After he was handed the death penalty for murder and other crimes, the top court rejected in 1999 his appeal against lower court rulings. Jiji Press