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Communist Vietnam's secret death penalty conveyor belt: How country trails only China and Iran for 'astonishing' number of executions

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Prisoners are dragged from their cells at 4am without warning to be given a lethal injection Vietnam's use of the death penalty has been thrust into the spotlight after a real estate tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to be executed in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country's history. Truong My Lan, a businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022.

Japan: Death penalty upheld for woman; Court sentences 3 to death for baby's kidnap, murder

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The Matsue branch of the Hiroshima High Court upheld on Thursday capital punishment for a woman convicted of killing two men in 2009, based mainly on circumstantial evidence.

Presiding Judge Ihei Tsukamoto concurred with the lower court's ruling in 2012 that questioned the authenticity of her claims of innocence.

Miyuki Ueta, 40, a former bar worker, used sleeping pills to drug truck driver Kazumi Yabe, 47, who she later drowned in the ocean in 2009. She drowned electronics store owner Hideki Maruyama, 57, in a river that October. She owed money to both.

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An Akure High Court yesterday, sentenced three men to death by hanging for alleged kidnapping and murdering of an 18-month-old baby, Rachael Akingboye.

The convicts are Olusegun Obaro, Jonah Lase and Theophilus Friday. The trial judge, Justice Olusegun Odusola, in his judgment, said the 1st and 2nd accused persons were guilty of kidnapping and murder, while the 3rd accused person was only guilty of murder.

They had been arraigned on a 2-count charge of kidnapping and murdering of Baby Akingboye, "contrary to and punishable under Section 3 of the Ondo State Anti-Kidnapping and Abduction Law 2010, and murder contrary to Section 316 and punishable under Section 319 of the Criminal Code Laws of Ondo State".

The convicts were said to have kidnapped the deceased from her parent's residence at Ikorigho in Igbokoda on the night of June 17, 2011.

After she was kidnapped, the corpse of the baby was said to have been found near the residence of the parents with her right eye, right ear, right breast and the right part of her scalp removed.

The convicts had pleaded not guilty to the charges at the commencement of the trial. However, Justice Odusola in his judgment, held that the totality of the evidence before him showed that the prosecution had proved that the three accused persons were responsible for the death of the baby.

He said: "The offences for which the accused were charged are strict liability offences. Death penalty is the punishment for each of the counts. Having found the 1st and 2nd accused guilty of both counts, the 3rd accused is guilty of murder.

"I hereby sentence Olusegun Obaro, Jonah Lase and Theophilus Friday to death by hanging."

Source: Japan Times, sunnewsonline.com, March 21, 2014
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