Japanese Red Army Member Gets 20-Year Jail for Bombings

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, July 04, 2002

Japanese Red Army Member Gets 20-Year Jail for Bombings

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

The Tokyo District Court on Thursday sentenced Yukiko Ekita, a former member of Japan's ultra leftists group, to 20 years in prison for attempted murder and violating the explosives law in a series of bombings targeting large companies in 1974 and 1975.

In handing down the ruling, Presiding Judge Megumi Yamamura described Ekita's actions as ''self-righteous and rash,'' and said Ekita could not escape reprobation even if she acted out of a sense of justice and an aim to change society.

Yamamura said considerations such as that Ekita was not involved in the conception of the bombing campaign led to a sentence less than the life imprisonment term demanded by the prosecutors.

''She has awakened to her mistake and is remorseful of her action,'' Yamamura said. The ruling took into account the estimated five and a half years she had spent in detention, the judge said.

Kenichi Sado of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office said the prosecutors will study the ruling before deciding on whether to appeal.

The trial of Ekita, 51, began in 1975 but was suspended when she was released from detention in 1977 in a deal struck with the Japanese Red Army during a hijacking of a Japanese airliner to Dhaka, Bangladesh.

She was caught in 1995 in Romania while using a forged Peruvian passport.

Ekita offered an apology during the trial, saying the armed struggle by the leftists was wrong and that she wanted to apologize to the victims of the bombing campaign and their families.

According to the ruling, Ekita injured 20 people in the bombing of five buildings belonging to large corporations, including Mitsui & Co. and Taisei Corp.

Five Japanese Red Army members involved in the series of 17 bombings have been found guilty, with two of them sentenced to death. Eight people were killed in the bombing of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.'s head office building in Tokyo.

Source: Agencies

Questions?Comments? Click here

Japanese Lawmaker Arrested Over Bribery

Doomsday Cult Member Sentenced to Death in Japanese Court

FM Spokesman on Chinese Diplomat Killed in Kyrgyzstan ( 16 Messages)

China Races to Replace US as Economic Power in Asia: NY Times ( 24 Messages)

Shanghai Plans Asia's Biggest Shopping Center ( 3 Messages)

China to Boost the Service Sector to Create More Jobs ( 40 Messages)

Chinese Scientists to Head for Suspected ET Relics ( 40 Messages)