Japan's Minister of Justice often refuses to issue execution orders due to political interests or religious beliefs. As a result, in recent decades, very few people in Japan have actually been executed.

Death penalty sentences in Japan have always been difficult. Not only do they have to go through a long appeal process, but they also have to have an execution order signed by the Minister of Justice before they can be implemented.

Japan’s Minister of Justice often refuses to issue execution orders due to political interests or religious beliefs. As a result, in recent decades, very few people in Japan have actually been executed.

But at the end of December 2019, the newly appointed Minister of Justice Masako Mori suddenly signed a death sentence execution order, and the person to be executed turned out to be a Chinese man .

This person’s name is Wei Wei. He is over 40 years old. He was once a Chinese student with excellent academic performance. However, in 2003, a home invasion and murder case pushed him into the abyss. From then on, he could only think about his homeland and dream about it. hometown.

On the eve of his execution, he sent his last letter home to his parents far away. There was only one word on it, - "Repent" ! So what heinous crime did he commit?

Making bad friends and going astray

Wei Wei was born in Xinmi City, Henan Province in 1979. His parents ran a local handicraft factory. Although the family was not very wealthy, they still had a small amount of savings.

The Wei family's parents were very willing to spend money on their son's education and sent him to the best schools since he was a child. Wei Wei also understood their parents' painstaking efforts and was always among the best in school.

and , he not only studies well, but also has super motor skills. He once won the provincial Sanda championship. It is the glory of his parents to be a child of other people's .

When Wei Wei was 18 years old, he was admitted to Dalian Foreign Languages ​​School with excellent results. Four years later, he successfully obtained his undergraduate diploma.

After graduation, he originally planned to find a job, but due to his lack of professionalism, the salary and benefits of the corresponding job did not meet his expectations, so he had some other ideas.

At that time, the Internet industry was advancing rapidly. Wei Wei had a glimpse of the future development trend and wanted to study computer science in Japan, a country with more advanced technology. Wei's parents supported this unconditionally.

In 2001, Wei Wei applied to a computer college after several twists and turns, and went to school alone in Fukuoka, Japan.

When he first arrived in Japan, he felt that everything was new. However, over time, he found that his Japanese level was completely unable to cope with daily learning, so that he was often confused when the teacher taught.

Moreover, due to the differences in language and living habits, it was difficult for him to chat with his local classmates. Therefore, he did not make any friends after staying in Fukuoka for more than a year, and he could not help but feel lonely.

Gradually, Wei Wei suffered from the unfamiliar country and frustrated study status, but he was unwilling to go home and disappoint his parents. So he could only rely on the high living expenses provided by his family to live in chaos in Fukuoka.

He often hangs out in Internet cafes and izakayas where Chinese students gather. Only there can he escape loneliness and failure and briefly feel the atmosphere of his hometown.

It was also there that he met two friends who would lead him to hell in the future-Wang Liang and Yang Ning.

Yang Ning, like Wei Wei, is a top academic in China, and his father also serves in the China-Japan Friendship Association in his hometown. has very good connections and family background.

In the fall of 2001, Yang Ning came to Japan to study under the arrangement of his father. He has a good foundation in Japanese and is very motivated in his studies. He also received a scholarship from the school. As long as he can graduate successfully, it can be said that his future is limitless.

But unfortunately he met Wang Liang, a man who was a troublemaker in China. He often took advantage of his family's wealth and power to do random things. He was the type of student that school teachers least wanted to see.

Wang Liang's father had a good relationship with Yang Ning's father, and they often drank together. After Wang's father heard that Yang Ning was studying in Japan, he had been begging Yang's father to help send his son to be plated with gold.

Father Wang thought that his son had gone abroad and was unfamiliar with the place, so he would not dare to cause trouble again, and maybe Yang Ning could help him improve.

Unexpectedly, it is easy to learn bad things but hard to learn well. Yang Ning not only failed to "qualify" Wang Liang, but was attracted by Wang Liang's various entertainment projects and spent all day with him. The simple academic master gradually developed a huge relationship. Variety.

The two of them didn't think about their work all day long, skipped classes and went to the Internet cafe to play games all night, and spent their living expenses in izakayas.

When they ran out of money, they went to rob other international students, or steal property from convenience stores and schools. In short, was completely depraved in a place where their families could not see them.

And because Wei Wei often met them in public places and they were both Chinese, they established a relationship as soon as they went back and forth. At that time, Wei Wei was at his most lonely, and the company of Wang Liang and Yang Ning gave him comfort. So the three of them People gradually developed "brotherhood".

Sometimes Wang Liang and Yang Ning would take him to steal and rob. He had struggled in his heart, but out of ridiculous "brotherly loyalty", he never refused and always helped the evildoers.

committed murder out of loyalty

In May 2003, Wang Liang and Yang Ning were expelled from school because they missed too many classes. According to Japanese policy, they will be sent back to the country soon.

Their families sent them to study abroad with high hopes, but now they have to go back in despair. You can imagine how disappointed their families will be.

Moreover, the two of them were already penniless because of their lavish spending. Finally, under double psychological pressure, they grew evil and decided to do something big before leaving.

After some site visits, they set their target on a clothing materials businessman - Shinjiro Matsumoto.

There are four people in Matsumoto Shinjiro's family. He, his wife and a pair of children live in a single-family villa.

Shinjiro Matsumoto always drives his own Mercedes-Benz when he goes out. His wife is also very generous. Her son and daughter both attend expensive private elementary schools. Her financial resources are evident, making her the perfect candidate for robbery.

The three of them tracked the movements of Shinjiro Matsumoto's family in advance. According to observations, the male owner of was very busy every day and basically could not return home until late at night.

The hostess does housework and goes shopping during the day, and cooks dinner for the children on time at home in the evening. She also goes to bed very early, and her life is very regular, and this gives them an opportunity to take advantage of. In the days after

, the three of them carefully planned every step of committing the crime, and dressed up in disguise, purchasing handcuffs, ropes, iron blocks, dumbbells and other crime tools in batches from different stores.

Wei Wei was afraid that the noise would be too loud and attract the attention of the neighbors, so he covered Matsumoto's wife's mouth, dragged her into the bathroom bathtub and drowned her.

The other two people quietly entered the children's room, and while the children were sleeping, they successfully strangled them alive on the bed without any hesitation in the whole process.

After killing three people in succession, they did not flee in panic. Instead, they calmly searched for property in the villa. However, what was shocking was that they only found less than 40,000 yen in cash, which is equivalent to more than 2,000 yuan in RMB. bucks.

Therefore, they were unwilling to give up, so they hid in the villa until about one o'clock in the night. Finally, they heard the sound of a car, and Shinjiro Matsumoto's Mercedes-Benz slowly drove into the garage.

They swarmed up to Shinjiro Matsumoto when he entered, tied him up with handcuffs, and then threatened him to hand over his family belongings.

When Shinjiro Matsumoto saw the three men openly committing violence at home, he might have guessed that his wife and children had been killed, so no matter how threatened, he was unwilling to reveal the location of the property.

Wei Wei and the others saw that Matsumoto Shinjiro was "obsessed", and they became angry and strangled Matsumoto to death using the same technique.

In order to cover up the facts of the crime, they moved the bodies of a family of four into Shinjiro Matsumoto's car and transported them to the beach. It was late at night and the beach was deserted.

They tied heavy objects such as iron blocks and dumbbells with ropes to the body, and then threw it into the sea. The body gradually sank underwater, and the three people ignored the car and left directly.

However, because the water where they dumped the body was not deep enough, people working at the beach discovered the body the day after the crime was committed, and immediately reported it to the police, and the case entered the investigation stage.

At the same time, Wang Liang and others felt that the money found in Shinjiro Matsumoto's house was too little, so they committed several thefts in Fukuoka and made a lot of money.

In fact, the reason why Wang Liang and Wang Ning dared to act so boldly was because there was no extradition regulation concluded between China and Japan.

They thought that as long as they returned to China before being caught by the Japanese police, they would not be held accountable. Little did they know that hatred of bad guys has no national boundaries.

According to the personal principle of our country's laws, As long as they are Chinese, no matter where they commit crimes, our country's judicial organs have the right to arrest and sentence them.

So with blood on their hands, they cannot escape the punishment of the law.

Sixteen years in prison

According to forensic identification, among the four victims, two children were strangled to death, and the couple were drowned. Especially Shinjiro Matsumoto, who was strangled until he was unconscious and then thrown into the sea. Finally died of drowning.

The way Wei Wei committed the crime seemed extremely cruel, but not clever. They left many traces at the crime scene. After sampling and analysis, the Japanese police basically determined the suspect's height, age and other information.

The crime tools such as ropes and dumbbells left at the scene also provided the police with many clues. By combing the relevant shops in the Fukuoka area, the portrait of one of the suspects gradually became clear.

In August 2003, the police received clues that someone said that the person in the portrait was very similar to the Chinese international student Wang Liang. The police immediately launched an arrest and searched Wang Liang's school and apartment.

But at this time, Wang Liang had already dropped out of school and returned to China. Naturally, the Japanese police could not find him, so they could only continue to investigate people related to Wang Liang based on this clue.

A few days later, Wei Wei was caught on the spot by the police for another case. After investigation, it was discovered that he was actually Wang Liang's accomplice, so he was tightly controlled.

In China, Wang Liang and Yang Ning squandered the stolen money and became local anomalies, so someone reported their behavior to the police.

Out of suspicion, the police took Wang Liang to the Public Security Bureau for questioning. Who knew that Wang Liang was not only bold but also greedy for life and death?

In addition, he also confessed Yang Ning’s criminal facts and hiding place, and soon both of them were imprisoned.

In October 2004, the Liaoyang Intermediate People's Court sentenced Wang and Yang. Yang Ning was sentenced to death. Wang Liang was sentenced to life imprisonment for surrendering and committing meritorious services. The following year, Yang Ning was executed.

Although both Wei Wei and Yang Ning were sentenced to death, Wei Wei's waiting time for death was extremely long, because according to Japanese judicial procedures, prisoners have the right to appeal multiple times before the death penalty is fully established.

Wei Wei was unwilling to accept his fate, so he kept appealing on the grounds that he was only an accessory, applying to be exempted from the death penalty and sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment .

It took six years from May 2005, when the Fukuoka District Court made the first-instance judgment to October 2011, when the Supreme Court of Japan rejected the appeal and upheld the death sentence.

Later, because Japan was relatively taboo about executions of the death penalty, the Minister of Justice was unwilling to sign an execution order for his own political interests and reputation, so Wei Wei lived for another 8 years.

During this period, Wei Wei's parents went from disbelief to accepting the fact that their son was a murderer. Their inner pain was indescribable. They could not understand why their once upright and motivated son had fallen to this point, and they could only blame themselves and regret letting their son study abroad.

While in prison, Wei Wei finally realized how unforgivable his behavior was, but everything was irreversible, and he had to use his own life to atone for his sins.

In December 2019, the Ministry of Justice of Japan finally announced the date of Wei Wei's death. Before his death, he wrote his last letter home to his parents far away in his hometown. There was only one word on it, and that was "regret"!

Conclusion

Studying abroad is not a new thing, but the tragedies caused by studying abroad have been happening. How many of those children who were sent to gilt abroad by their parents before their minds were mature enough went astray and ultimately harmed others? Has.

The purpose of studying abroad is to enrich knowledge and horizons, rather than squandering high study abroad fees. Therefore, how to help children correctly cope with study and life in a foreign country is not only worthy of careful consideration by parents, but also requires guidance from society.

References

1, Global Network: " Just now, a Chinese was executed in Japan "

2, Pingdingshan Evening News: "A Chinese man who killed a Fukuoka family of four 16 years ago was executed in Japan"

3, China News Net: "The first execution of a Chinese prisoner in Japan. Japanese officials said the sentence was reasonable?" 》