A hired hit man who brutally stabbed to death a freelance journalist over a published article that defamed his client has been handed down a 14-year sentence in Tokyo’s District Court.
Yoshihiro Kumamoto, 44, was condemned by a judge for kidnapping and then murdering freelance crime writer Satoru Someya in September 2003.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Kumamoto was hired by Keizo Sakurai because of a widely-circulated article penned by Someya that claimed Sakurai was a criminal.
Court hearings reveal in September 2003, Sakuri and Kumamoto led the freelance onto a boat where he refused to apologise for allegedly defaming Sakuri.
The 38-year-old writer was then stabbed several times and tossed overboard for his negative portrayal of Sakuri in a book that exposed the secret activities of Japanese gangsters.
Although no explicit reference was made to Sakurai, he claimed the book’s mention of an unnamed locksmith carrying out crimes in Tokyo was a reference to him.
Sakurai stated: "If I did not kill him, I would still have been a victim of false accusations by the dirty writer and would have suffered social ostracism. I could not help but kill him," according to a report last year by the Japan Times.
On Tuesday, Judge Shoji Ogawa blasted Kumamoto's actions as he handed down the sentence: “After binding the victim with chains, [you] stabbed him several times in the back and threw him into the sea. It was absolutely brutal.”
The freelance acknowledged in the introduction of his book that his investigation and exposé of Japan’s criminal underworld made him fear for his life.
Oct 12, 2005
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