Around 200 people gathered for a meeting in Tokyo on Saturday, the World Day Against the Death Penalty, to seek an end to capital punishment and expressed hope that executions will be suspended under Japan's new government.

"I expect mass executions implemented by the previous government (led by the Liberal Democratic Party) to be suspended," Nobuto Hosaka, secretary general of the Japan Parliamentary League against the Death Penalty, said, referring to the inauguration of Justice Minister Keiko Chiba.

Chiba of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan publicly said she was a member of a group of bipartisan lawmakers that oppose the death penalty, although she has withdrawn from it in light of her current post.

"I hope Minister Chiba will promote the disclosure of information on the death penalty by opening the death chamber to the public, for example, so that debate on capital punishment will be stirred," said Hosaka, who lost his Diet seat in the Aug. 30 general election but is still involved in the activities of the bipartisan group.

The chief lawyer for Toshikazu Sugaya, a man who was falsely jailed over the 1990 murder of a 4-year-old girl in Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture, also attended the meeting.

Sugaya, 62, was arrested, based mainly on a DNA test, but he was later proven innocent through a fresh DNA exam.

Hiroshi Sato, Sugaya's chief lawyer, told the meeting that while Sugaya was released, another death row inmate, who was found guilty based on a DNA test, was executed in October last year, despite denying involvement in the 1992 murders of two girls in Iizuka, Fukuoka Prefecture.

Sato said the inmate, Michitoshi Kuma, was hanged suddenly and secretly without his lawyers being consulted beforehand about the validity of his DNA test, and such an execution system should not be acceptable.

The public meeting was hosted by Forum 90, a group that campaigns against the death penalty which also grants awards for paintings and writings by death row inmates every year on the World Day Against the Death Penalty.

It was announced at the meeting that six inmates received the awards this year.

The world is moving to end the death penalty, with 138 countries having already abolished it, while only 59 countries, including Japan, continued to maintain it as of the end of 2008, according to Amnesty International.