Three Japanese men sentenced to death filed a lawsuit against the Japanese government on Tuesday, condemning the “cruelty” of executions by hanging and demanding an end to them, their lawyer said, according to France Presse.

The three plaintiffs held in Osaka, western Japan, whose identities have not been released, want to “obtain an injunction” against execution by hanging, Mizutani Kyoji said.

They are also seeking 33 million yen (229,000 euros) in damages for the “psychological suffering” they suffered after they were sentenced to death in 2000, the lawyer added.

Japan, along with the United States, is one of the few democracies that still uses the death penalty. Public opinion in Japan remains in favor of the death penalty, despite criticism.

The court victory would lead to a review of the country’s death penalty laws, where more than 100 death row inmates are currently awaiting execution. Among them are serial killers.

Many years usually elapse between sentencing and execution by hanging, but prisoners are usually notified only a few hours before their execution.

During executions in Japan, condemned prisoners, handcuffed and blindfolded, are raised to a hatch that opens at their feet by a mechanism triggered by one of the buttons on the wall of an adjacent room, simultaneously activated by many guards who they do not know which of them works.

Two other death row inmates filed a lawsuit against the government last year, arguing that the practice of warning inmates hours before execution is illegal and causes psychological stress.

Last July, a 39-year-old man sentenced to death for killing seven people in Tokyo in 2008 was executed. Three more death row inmates were executed in December 2021, marking the first execution in Japan after a two-year hiatus.

(article photo © | Dreamstime.com)