Crime & Courts

Radical Group Member Gets 20 Yrs over 1971 Murder

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
The Tokyo District Court in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo

Jiji Press

16:15 JST, December 23, 2023

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Tokyo District Court on Friday sentenced a 74-year-old member of a Japanese radical group called Chukaku-ha to 20 years in prison over a 1971 riot in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward that left a policeman dead.

The defense of Masaaki Osaka, who was charged with murder and other crimes, appealed the ruling immediately. Prosecutors had demanded an indefinite prison term.

In handing down the sentence, Presiding Judge Yasuaki Takahashi said, “It was a cruel and outrageous act of unilateral assault against a non-resisting victim.”

According to the ruling, Osaka conspired with a number of students, workers and others to attack policemen with firebombs and steel pipes on Nov. 14, 1971, injuring three and resulting in the death of Tsuneo Nakamura, a 21-year-old officer from the Niigata prefectural police.