Japan Hangs Tsutomu Miyazaki for the Murders of Four Young Girls in Tokyo and Saitama in 1988 and 1989
Miyazaki and two other inmates were executed on the order of Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama, whose execution orders reached 13.
Published
The abductions and murders of four small girls in Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture in 1988 and 1989 stunned Japan. On June 17, 2008, Tsutomu Miyazaki, 45, was hanged for the crimes along with two other death-row inmates.
Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama had signed the execution orders, his fourth round since taking office and 13 in all, the most by a single minister since executions resumed in 1993. "In all three cases, the inmates committed cruel acts for very selfish reasons," Hatoyama told reporters. "I ordered the executions to protect the rule of law." The other two executed were Shinji Mutsuda, 37, and Yoshio Yamasaki, 73.
Miyazaki was arrested in July 1989 and confessed to killing the four girls, who were aged 4 to 7. He sent letters to the media under a woman's name claiming responsibility and sent the remains of one girl to her family. His lawyers argued that he was mentally ill and could not be held fully responsible, and he never expressed remorse to the victims' families. Japan's Supreme Court upheld his death sentence in January 2006. The day after the execution, a member of the Diet submitted written questions asking about Miyazaki's psychiatric treatment in detention and whether he had been fit to be executed.
A Diet member's written question cited a Tokyo Detention House report that Miyazaki had been given psychiatric medication since 1996, while the justice minister said he had chosen inmates he could execute "with a feeling of confidence and responsibility."
Sources
- 死刑執行と裁判員制度に関する質問主意書 (Written question on executions and the lay judge system), House of Representatives of Japan (Shugiin)
- Serial killer Miyazaki, two others hanged, The Japan Times
- Japan confirms execution of 'cannibal killer', ABC News (Australia)