Japan executes arsonist who killed 5 in 2009 Osaka Pachinko fire
by Darryl Coote · UPIAug. 21 (UPI) -- Japan early Friday executed a 58-year-old man convicted of killing five people in a fire he ignited at a pachinko parlor in Osaka 17 years ago, the first death-row inmate to be put to death by the ultra-conservative administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Sunao Takami was hanged to death early Friday, Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraghuchi told reporters at a press conference, Jiji Tsushinsha news agency reported.
"I ordered the execution after a very careful consideration."
Hiraghuchi signed the execution order Tuesday.
Takami was sentenced to death by the Osaka District Court on Oct. 31, 2011, on charges of arson, murder and attempted murder, according to court documents.
He was convicted of killing five people and injuring 10 others on July 5, 2009, when he set fire to a pachinko parlor in the Konohana Ward, Osaka, at about 4:15 p.m. According to a Fire and Disaster Management Agency report from the time of the incident, 131 people were inside inside the six-story building, including 95 in the pachinko parlor, when the fire began.
Court documents state that Takami had quit his job that April but was unable to find new employment. He decided to carry out an indiscriminate killing as revenge against society and people he delusionally blamed for his misfortunes, intending to commit an attack serious enough that he would receive the death penalty.
He would go on to appeal his conviction, with the Supreme Court dismissing it in February 2016.
Takami is the first person to be executed under the Takaichi administration, which began in October, and the first in Japan since 34-year-old "Twitter Killer" Takahiro Shiraishi was put to death for killing nine people he lured to his south Tokyo apartment.
Amnesty International Japan rebuked the government for carrying out the execution, saying Takami had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and that killing him violates international standards that dictate that those with mental or intellectual disabilities should not be sentenced to death.
"At a time when many lives are being threatened by disasters, the decision to proceed with an execution can be seen as demonstrating that the current administration also has an attitude that gives little weight to human life," it said in a statement.