The executions of seven Aum Supreme Truth cult members on July 6 set a record number of such killings in one day since the Justice Ministry began releasing information on capital punishment in 1998.
Putting 13 prisoners to death in just three weeks is seen as one of the largest spates of executions since the end of World War II.
European Union member countries and other nations on Thursday released a joint statement calling for the Japanese government to adopt a moratorium on capital punishment with a view to abolishing the death penalty.
The international human rights group Amnesty International, too, criticized the moves, saying Japanese authorities should "promote an informed debate on the death penalty as first steps towards its abolition."
According to Amnesty, the number of countries and territories that have effectively abolished the death penalty has reached 142, while 56 -- including Japan and the United States -- maintain capital punishment.
Yet a national survey by the Cabinet Office in 2014 found 80 percent of the respondents were accepting of the death penalty.
"The public support for the death penalty system has remained at a high level partly because the Aum cases had a devastating impact," said one former justice minister.
Current Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa said Thursday: "Whether we should maintain or abolish the [death penalty] system is something we must decide independently with reference to the moves in other countries, while also considering public sentiment.
"To abolish the system under present conditions is not appropriate."
Chuo University Prof. Makoto Ida, a criminal law specialist, said: "Now that we have closed a chapter with the Aum cases, we should probably recognize that the time has again come to reopen civil discourse on what to do with the [death penalty] system."
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