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TOKYO – Japanese prosecutors on Thursday demanded capital punishment for the man dubbed the “Twitter killer” charged with the 2017 serial murder of 9 people who had expressed suicidal thoughts on social media, a high-profile case that shocked people. the nation.
In a trial before a lay judge in the Tachikawa section of the Tokyo District Court, prosecutors sought the death penalty for Takahiro Shiraishi, 30, who pleaded guilty to murdering, dismembering and storing the bodies of the 9 in your apartment near Tokyo.
“Nine young lives were taken in just two months,” said a prosecutor, adding that their crimes “deserve death.”
Prosecutors also pointed out that there was no way for the victims to agree to be killed based on Shiraishi’s testimony that they resisted being strangled.
Throughout the trial, Shiraishi had said “there was no consent”, but his defense attorneys argued that the defendant killed the victims with his approval as they had expressed suicidal thoughts and that he is therefore only guilty of the lesser charge of murder. with consent.
Shiraishi said Wednesday that he hopes to receive the death penalty, adding: “I humbly admit my guilt and will accept the punishment.”
Defense attorneys have also said that Shiraishi was possibly mentally incompetent or in a state of diminished ability at the time and should not be held criminally liable.
Before indicting him in September 2018, prosecutors concluded that Shiraishi can be held criminally liable after 5 months of psychiatric testing.
According to the indictment, Shiraishi strangled and dismembered 8 women and a man aged 15 to 26 from Tokyo and 4 other prefectures from August to October 2017. Their bodies were discovered inside containers such as cooling boxes at his apartment in Zama in Kanagawa prefecture.
It is also alleged that he stole cash from the victims and sexually assaulted all the women.
ANC, Japan man death penalty 2017 serial murder, Japan man Twitter killer 2017, Japan courts, Japan justice, Japan
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