Price for drug smuggling
(From The Japan Times April 11 issue)

要約
麻薬密輸の代償

On April 6, China executed a Japanese national for the first time since the two countries normalized diplomatic relations in 1972. On April 9, three more Japanese men were executed for drug-related offenses.

The Japanese government had expressed "concern" about the executions. Mitsunobu Akano, a 65-year-old and the first to be exected, was convicted of trying to smuggle 2.5 kg of stimulants to Japan. He was arrested at Dalian airport in September 2006. Questions remain about whether Akano was given a fair trial. He reportedly had protested that his interpreter was not qualified and had expressed doubts about the accuracy of investigation records. He also had complained that the death sentence was too heavy in view of his auxiliary role in the crime. His death sentence was finalized in April 2009.

Drug-related problems in China are increasing amid the country's economic boom. It is said that more than 1.3 million Chinese are using narcotics or stimulant drugs. Given China's historical experience with opium addiction on a mass scale, the current situation has understandably imbued China's leadership with a strong sense of crisis. Last year, investigative authorities arrested 1,559 people on drug-related charges and seized about 2 tons of drugs. Unlike in Japan, where the harshest sentence for drug smuggling is life imprisonment, in China anyone convicted of smuggling 50 grams or more of stimulant drugs can be given 15 years' imprisonment, a life sentence or a death sentence. On the same day that Akano was executed, China's Supreme People's Court said that drug crimes pose a serious threat to society and that the use of the death penalty for drug crimes serves as a deterrent.

While the four men's punishment may seem too harsh from a Japanese perspective, Japan also employs capital punishment so it cannot take a strong stance against China's action. Any Japanese who may be tempted to smuggle drugs through China would be wise to recall these men's fate.

日中国交正常化以来初めて中国で日本人の死刑が執行され、3日後に麻薬密輸罪でさらに3人が死刑、日本政府は「懸念」を表明した。

覚せい剤密輸の罪に問われた赤野光信死刑囚に公正な裁判を受ける権利は保障されていたのか。同死刑囚は通訳の適格性や調査報告の正確性について争っていた。

中国では急速な経済発展で麻薬問題が深刻化している。アヘン戦争という歴史を持つ同国では現状に危機感が強まっている。麻薬密輸での最高刑が終身刑の日本と違い、中国では50グラム以上の覚せい剤密輸で懲役15年か無期懲役、死刑だ。今回の死刑は重すぎるようだが、死刑執行国の日本は強い立場を取れない。彼らの運命を思うことが密輸の歯止めとなることを願う。