Seiken Sugiura (杉浦正健 ''Sugiura Seiken'', born July 26, 1934) is a Japanese

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and lawyer. He was named Minister of Justice on October 31, 2005 and served in the cabinet of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Junichiro Koizumi. Being a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

, he imposed a moratorium on executions during his time as Minister of Justice. He was defeated in the 2009 election by Yasuhiro Nakane, a member of the

Democratic Party of Japan The was a centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to centre-left liberal or social-liberal political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016. The party's origins lie in the previous Democratic Part ...

. He has remained engaged in discussions over the death penalty in Japan since leaving politics. On October 3, 2015, he spoke at a World Day against the Death Penalty event in Tokyo, along with Hideo Hiraoka, who was justice minister under the

.2 ex-justice ministers join anti-death penalty rally October 3, 2015
''

Mainichi Shimbun The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English language news website called ''The Mainichi'' (previ ...

'' Retrieved October 4, 2015

References

, - , - 1934 births Living people Japanese Buddhists Japanese anti–death penalty activists Ministers of Justice of Japan People from Okazaki, Aichi University of Tokyo alumni 21st-century Japanese politicians {{Japan-politician-1930s-stub