Justice Minister Hideo Usui said Tuesday that death-row convicts seeking retrials could be executed if their demands for retrials are deemed highly likely to be rejected.

Usui made the remark in response to a question by Social Democratic Party member Mizuho Fukushima during a session of the House of Councilors Committee on Judicial Affairs.

Fukushima had asked about the legitimacy of the Dec. 17 execution of 62-year-old death-row inmate Teruo Ono, found guilty of killing a woman and stealing 20,000 yen from her in 1977.

Usui's statement may signal a new direction in government policy on the issue, according to Forum 90, a citizens' group that wants the government to ratify a global treaty banning capital punishment.

"It is a court that decides whether (death-row inmates') demands for retrials can be justified or not. The justice minister can never be forgiven for having death penalties carried out on the minister's self-centered assumption that the demands would be rejected," said a representative of the group.

Fukushima expressed doubts about whether Ono should have been executed without a retrial. Ono was in the process of requesting a retrial, claiming a previous ruling on the case contained errors, when he was hanged.

"Demands for retrials don't become reasons for executions to be suspended," Usui said.

Taking into account the critical consequences of death penalties, however, we are considering (retrial demands),"

Death-row inmates should be executed when they have repeatedly requested retrials for the same reasons and the requests are rejected, according to the justice minister.

Usui said he had been informed about requests for a retrial by Ono's lawyers and that he signed an order for Ono's execution a few days before he was hanged.

Ono requested a retrial by himself several times, but his last request was submitted by lawyers acting on his behalf.