Japan Executes Serial Killer Who Lured Victims Through Twitter
The Japanese authorities executed a prisoner convicted five years ago of killing nine people in 2017, having lured his victims through Twitter, public media reported on Friday.
This marks the first time that the death penalty has been carried out in Japan since July 2022, according to Japan’s public broadcasting organization NHK and several other media outlets.
In response to a question from Agence France-Presse, the Ministry of Justice declined to confirm this information before a press conference scheduled for later today.
According to the media, the executed convict is Takahiro Shiraishi, a 34-year-old man who was sentenced in late 2020 for the murders committed in 2017.
The serial killer targeted his victims through Twitter, choosing from among internet users who discussed plans to commit suicide, telling them that he could help them and even die with them.
Shiraishi confessed to killing his nine victims, consisting of eight females and one male, all aged between 15 and 26.
During his trial, his lawyers requested a life sentence, arguing that his victims expressed suicidal thoughts on social media, and therefore consented to their deaths.
However, the court rejected this argument, stating that the case “caused grave concern in society due to the widespread use of social media.”
The court sentenced him to death by hanging, the only method used in Japan for executing the death penalty.
The condemned man did not appeal this ruling.
The murderer dismembered the bodies and stored them in his apartment in Zama, a suburb southwest of Tokyo.
This case shocked Japan, a country known for its very low crime rates, and it also stirred international controversy.
