Photo/Illutration The joint statement issued by the Delegation of the European Union and other European countries (Captured from Delegation of the European Union to Japan’s website)

After Japan’s first execution of a prisoner in almost three years, the European Union and other countries responded with a joint statement expressing regret and calling for the death penalty to be suspended.

The statement, dated June 27, was signed by the delegation of the EU, the EU member states, as well as the embassies of Iceland, Norway and Switzerland in Japan. 

Taking a stance against the death penalty, the statement said capital punishment is “incompatible with the inalienable right to life and the right to live free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.”

It also pointed out that the death penalty “fails to act as a deterrent to crime and makes possible miscarriages of justice irreversible.”

Citing that more than two-thirds of countries around the world have either abolished or effectively suspended the death penalty, the statement urged Japan to take a “positive first step towards its abolition” by adopting a moratorium on executions and promoting a national debate on the issue.

JUSTICE MINISTER’S RESPONSE

At a news conference following a Cabinet meeting on July 1, Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki was asked about the joint statement.

“Whether to retain or abolish the death penalty is a critical issue at the core of each country’s criminal justice system,” he said.

“While taking into account discussions occurring within international organizations and trends in other countries, it is a matter that should be independently decided by each nation, based on factors such as public sentiment, crime conditions and criminal policy,” Suzuki said.

On June 27, the Justice Ministry executed Takahiro Shiraishi, a death row inmate convicted of murdering nine people in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, in 2017. He was sentenced to death for crimes including robbery, sexual assault and murder.

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