Japanese death row inmates Yasutaka Fujishiro, Tomoaki Takanezawa, and Mitsunori Onogawa had been waiting for nearly two decades to find out when they would be executed for their crimes -Takanezawa and Onogawa, accomplices in the murders of two pinball arcade employees in 2004, and Fujishiro for massacring seven neighbors, including his own aunt in 2003, CNN reports.
On Tuesday they finally got their answer: On Tuesday. The Japanese Justice Ministry told all three they’d be hanged just hours before they were marched to the gallows. The three men’s families were notified after it happened. Precisely why this psychological torture is inflicted on death row inmates in Japan is unknown, but it seems kind of excessive, even for murderers.