Upper
house lawmakers inspect execution chamber
Friday,
November 23, 2007 at 07:22 EST
TOKYO
— A group of lawmakers from the House of Councillors' legal
affairs committee inspected an execution chamber at Tokyo
Detention House on Thursday.
It was the first such inspection by lawmakers other than
the justice minister in about four years. Members of the
House of Representatives' legal affairs committee also plan
to inspect it on Monday.
According to committee chairman Kiyohiko Toyama, 11 members
inspected the execution facility where inmates are hanged
and the site where detention officials push the buttons to
operate the facility.
"I had the impression that the Justice Ministry is
reluctant to disclose information about executions,
including the execution chamber," Toyama told reporters,
stressing the need to debate the issue of capital
punishment.
Toyama said he is against capital punishment and that it
should be abolished and replaced by life imprisonment.
Other members of the committee said, "We should consider
whether hanging is appropriate," and "The psychological
burden on detention officials involved in executions may be
huge," according to Toyama.
The Justice Ministry turned down requests from media
organizations to accompany the lawmakers, saying, "It is a
place where the heaviest and most severe penalty is
executed, and is not suitable to be publicized." (Kyodo
News)