Center for Prisoners’ Rights Japan

c/o Amicus Law Office
Raffine Shinjuku #902, 1-36-5, Shinjuku Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, JAPANTEL / FAX +81 3-5379-5055
December 18, 2015

On Friday December 18th, Japan’s Justice Minister Mitsuhide Iwaki executed Mr. Sumitoshi Tsuda andKazuyuki Wakabayashi at Tokyo and Sendai Detention Center respectively, for the first time during histerm of office since October 2015.
On the occasion of the last execution ordered by then Justice Minister Kamikawa, we pronounced in ourstatement as follows; “with the increasing number of death sentences handed down by lay judges, it
seems utterly impossible to avoid execution of death sentences which were imposed by lay judges andfinalized without any review by the higher courts. The Japanese government should stop forcing its
citizens to take the responsibility of retaining capital punishment, citing the result of opinion polls andthe system of lay judge trial. Instead, the government should introduce the mandatory appeal system andcommence review of the entire death penalty system”. Today we repeat the same words here.
Mr. Tsuda, sentenced to death in lay judge trial held in June 2011, had withdrawn his appeal to the High
Court and made his sentence finalized the following month. Prior to indictment, public prosecutor’s
office commissioned two separate psychiatric tests on his criminal responsibility. Trial court also orderedan additional test, which found him responsible. However, validity of the withdrawal is doubted in lightof the 1995 Supreme Court decision which established standards for validity of withdrawal made byinmates sentenced to death. Today’s execution reminds us urgent necessity for introduction of mandatory
appeal system for death sentences. Many death sentences have been finalized without review byappellate courts for lack of the system of mandatory appeal. The consequences of such a fault in the
judicial system not only are the innocents held on death row but also those who do not deserve to death
are sentenced to death. As there are various factors which are crucial for determination of ultimate
punishment, there is always great risk of erroneous decision in sentencing. A recent example of thiswould be the decisions made by the Tokyo High Court to overturn lay judges’ decisions to impose thedeath penalty in three cases, which were subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court. Thus, various UN
human rights bodies such as UN Human Rights Committee (2008) and The Committee Against Torture(2007, 2013) have issued recommendations time and time again, that there should be steps taken toensure that such appeals shall become mandatory.
Mr. Wakabayashi, who later retracted admission of his direct responsibility for double murders in theappellate court, had fully admitted the commission of the crimes and his conviction had come only ninemonths after the incidents. This means prosecutor’s case was not seriously tested by the defense basedon his denial. Japan adopts a unidary trial, in which the issue of punishment is submitted to the court
along with the issue of guilt. Defendants are forced to beg for mercy, while they contend that they are
not guilty in the course of same procedure. Our criminal justice system is designed too poorly to impose
ultimate punishment in many ways, including Penal Code provisions which give sentencers broad
discretion.

The Japanese government should face up to numerous problems on the system of the death penalty and
immediately commence review of the entire system including abolition of the punishment.
Center for Prisoners’ Rights condemns today’s executions and will continue its struggle to achievemoratorium on executions and ultimate abolition of the death penalty.

Yuichi KAIDO
President
Maiko TAGUSARI
Secretary-General
Center for Prisoners’ Rights