26-year-old Masahiro Kanagawa killed two strangers and stabbed seven other people just in order to get death penalty – his form of “suicide”.
Kanagawa was sentenced to death by hanging today in the city of Mito for his crimes. In interviews, he explained that he was weary of life, wished to commit suicide and carried out the murders in order to bring about his own execution, The Times reports.
“This whole case itself is a process of …

US State of Ohio today executed a killer by performing the country’s first lethal injection using a single drug, a supposedly less painful method than previous executions that required three drugs, AP reports.
Kenneth Biros was pronounced dead at 11:47 am, about 10 minutes after one dose of thiopental sodium began flowing into his veins at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. The US Supreme Court had rejected his final appeal about two hours before.
Experts …

Russia’s constitutional court ruled that the current moratorium on death penalty will remain when the current legal suspension expires on 1st January.
The court said that the use of the death penalty was now impossible because Russia had signed international deals banning it.
Russia announced the moratorium in 1996 when it joined the Council of Europe, although it retains capital punishment in the criminal code.
Opinion polls suggest that a majority of Russians back the death penalty.
Well, of …

The first trial of protesters has begun in Tehran, with more than 100 people including senior opposition figures accused of rioting, vandalism and “acting against national security”, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The accused could face long prison sentences or even the death penalty if found guilty of being “an enemy of God”.
Those on trial included prominent reformers such as former vice-president Mohammad Ali Abtahi, former deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh, former government spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh, former …

China is making real progress in killing its people – by the end of the year, the death penalty will no longer be carried out by shooting at the back of the head, but a more “humane” way – lethal injection.
Chinese newspaper Beijing Youth Daily said that the reason for such makeover is to make the death penalty less cumbersome and to reduce the trauma to all involved – including executioners and family, according to …