Japanese Supreme Court upholds death sentences for two Chinese men

 The Japanese Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the appeals of 2 Chinese men who had been sentenced to death for murdering 3 people during a robbery 10 years ago.

 "The court upheld the decisions of the lower courts," said a spokesman for the court.

 Chen Daiwei, 41, and He Li, 37, had been found guilty of the 1992 murders of three workers at a pachinko parlor. Pachinko is a Japanese gambling game akin to pinball.

 "The responsibility for taking 3 lives is extremely serious," Presiding Judge Toshihiro Kanatani said in his ruling.

 "It was a premeditated crime, motivated by money. The crime was cruel, ruthless and brutal. I have no choice but to agree with the 1st and second rulings, which handed down death sentences."

 Technically, the 2 men still have 10 days to ask the court to reconsider the decision.

 "But the conditions under which it is possible to ask for reconsideration are so strict that the sentences given to the 2 men are, at this point, expected to be confirmed," the spokesman said.

 According to records available at the highest court that only go back to 1966, it was the first decision by the Supreme Court finalising death sentences for foreigners, the spokesman said.

 Since 1966, Japanese courts have handed down death sentences to 10 foreigners, including Chen and He, according to the Supreme Court.

 How many of the 10 were executed was not immediately known as the Ministry of Justice does not keep statistics of executions by the nationality of criminals.

 The 2 men stabbed and killed 3 employees at a pachinko parlor in western Tokyo and stole some 2.34 million yen (18,765 dollars at current rates of exchange), in May 1992, according to court documents.

 The natives of Fujian Province arrived in Japan in 1988 on student visas, Kyodo News said. But the visas had expired by May 1992 and they were staying in Japan illegally at the time of the crime, according to the earlier rulings, the news agency said, citing documents from lower court hearings.

 Jiji Press reported that another Chinese man, who is believed to have led Chen and He in the crime, was never arrested.