Japan has executed a man convicted of killing five people in a 2009 fire at a gaming parlour, marking the country’s first execution in more than a year.
Sunao Takami, 58, had doused a pachinko gaming parlour near his home in Osaka with gasoline and set it on fire, killing four customers and one employee.
A six-member jury and a panel of three judges rejected the defence’s argument that Takami was mentally ill at the time of the crime and sentenced him to death by hanging in 2011.
First execution under Takaichi administration
Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi said on Friday that the execution was ordered after careful and thorough consideration.
It was the first execution carried out under the Takaichi administration and the first in Japan in more than a year.
Along with the United States, Japan is the only G7 country that continues to impose capital punishment.
Death row prisoners in Japan are typically notified of their execution by hanging only a few hours in advance.
Previous execution carried out in June last year
Japan’s previous execution was carried out in June last year, when Takahiro Shiraishi, known as the ‘Twitter killer’, was executed.
Shiraishi was convicted of murdering and dismembering nine people in 2017.
His crimes came to light in October 2017, when police searching for one of the victims discovered body parts in the city of Zama, near Tokyo.
