Seiken Sugiura (杉浦 正健 Sugiura Seiken, born 26 July 1934) is a Japanese politician and lawyer. He was named Minister of Justice on 31 October 2005 and served in the cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Being a Buddhist, 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. He has remained engaged in discussions over the death penalty in Japan since leaving politics. On 3 October 2015, he spoke at a World Day against the Death Penalty event in Tokyo, along with Hideo Hiraoka, who was justice minister under the Democratic Party of Japan.
Source: “Seiken Sugiura”, English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), excerpt