Photo/Illutration The death chamber, right, at the Tokyo Detention House. Correctional officers press a button for execution in the room on the left. (Pool)

OSAKA—The Osaka District Court on April 15 dismissed a lawsuit claiming that notifying a death-row inmate hours before carrying out an execution is unconstitutional.

In the lawsuit, two death-row inmates said they should not be obligated to accept the judicial practice of the same-day notification of executions and sought compensation for mental suffering from the government.

The district court denied both requests.

Currently, a person on death row is sent to the gallows one to two hours after a notice is given.

The plaintiffs said the system denies those on death row sufficient time to meet family members or file a legal complaint.

They said the same-day notice of executions therefore violates Article 31 of the Constitution, which says, “No person shall be deprived of life or liberty, nor shall any other criminal penalty be imposed, except according to procedure established by law.”

The plaintiffs’ lawyers said such notices used to be given a few days before the execution, and presented a tape recording from 1955 as evidence.

The tape contained conversations between a death-row inmate and his sister after he received a notice two days before the execution.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers also said prior notice is the norm for countries that retain the death penalty. They cited a United Nations human rights organization’s statement that said failure to notify the date of execution at an appropriate time to a death-row inmate is mistreatment.

The lawyers also said the same-day execution notice violates human dignity guaranteed by Article 13 of the Constitution because the condemned prisoners are given no time to prepare for death.

The government cited the absence of laws or regulations governing notices and said the Constitution does not guarantee death-row convicts the right to seek prior notice.

It said the same-day execution notice was adopted because a person on death row committed suicide after a notice was given a day before the execution.

The government said the current practice is a reasonable way to smoothly carry out the death penalty and avoid the risk of prisoners killing themselves.

It had asked the court to dismiss the plaintiffs’ requests.

Two other lawsuits related to the capital punishment system are still pending at the Osaka District Court.

One centers around the cruelty of hanging, while the other questions the appropriateness of execution while a retrial is being sought.

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