Japan executes man convicted of murder for killing and dismembering 9 people : NPR
File – Takahiro Shiraishi leaves a police station in Hachioji, the suburb of Tokyo, in November 2017.
Takuya Inaba / Kyodo News / AP
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Takuya Inaba / Kyodo News / AP
Tokyo – A man found guilty of murder for having killed and dismembered nine people in his apartment near Tokyo was executed on Friday, the Ministry of Justice in Japan said.
Takahiro Shiraishi, known as “Twitter Killer”, was sentenced to death in 2020 for the killings in 2017 of the nine victims, most of whom had published suicidal reflections on social networks. He was also found guilty of having sexually abused women victims.
The execution was made as calls increases the capital punishment in Japan since the acquittal of the longest death row in the world Iwao Hakamada last year.
Shuishi was hanged at the Tokyo detention house in secret without anything being disclosed until the execution being finished.
Police arrested him in 2017 after finding the bodies of eight women and a man in cold storage in his apartment.
Investigators said Shiraishi had approached the victims via Twitter, offering to help them with their suicidal wishes. He killed the eight women, including adolescents, after raping them, and also killed a boyfriend from one of the women to silence him.
Japan’s suicide rate ranks among the highest in the world. After a recent drop, the number fell this year while people were affected by the effects of the COVVI-19 pandemic.
The crime rate of Japan is relatively low, but it has experienced very publicized mass killings in recent years.
