Japan executes two killers

TOKYO, July 27 (UPI) -- Two convicted killers were hanged in Japan, in the first executions in the country in a year, Justice Minister Keiko Chiba said Wednesday.

The two death row inmates were Kazuo Shinozawa, who was found guilty in the 2000 slayings of six female clerks at a jewelry store in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, and Hidenori Ogata, who was involved in a double murder case in 2003, Kyodo News reported.

Ciba said she attended the executions, the Japanese news agency said.

The executions were the first since the Democratic Party of Japan came to power. The last executions were July 28, 2009, when three inmates were hanged and the government was controlled by the Liberal Democratic Party.