Japan executes notorious cannibal killer
Japan on Tuesday executed three people including notorious serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki, a fetishist convicted of murdering four young girls and eating some of their bodies, officials said.
Miyazaki, 45, was nicknamed the “killer nerd” for his obsession with sexual cartoons and pornography. But defence lawyers contended he was mentally ill and could not be held fully responsible for his actions.
Japan is the only major industrialised nation other than the United States to apply the death penalty and has been stepping up the pace of executions, which enjoy wide public support.
“We are carrying out executions by selecting the people whom we can execute with a feeling of confidence and responsibility,” Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama told a news conference.
Hatoyama said he had signed the order to send the trio to the gallows to “realise justice.”
