Japanese man handed suspended jail term for Korea International School arson attack in Osaka
- Makoto Tachikawa was given a three-year prison sentence, suspended for five years, for setting a floor of the school building on fire in April
- In handing down the ruling, a judge said the court does not take the anxiety the man caused to students and other people via his actions lightly
A Japanese court on Thursday sentenced a man to three years in prison, suspended for five years, for damaging a building of an international school in Osaka prefecture, in what is widely seen as a hate crime.
In the same trial, Tachikawa was also found guilty of breaking into the office of Kiyomi Tsujimoto, a Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker, in March, as well as into a facility of Japan’s largest lay Buddhist group Soka Gakkai in May, both in the prefecture.
Presiding Judge Masashi Kajikawa said the defendant had developed one-sided hatred for a particular religion, ethnicity, and political group based on social media posts.
“He conducted a self-righteous crime based on a warped sense of justice,” Kajikawa said.
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During court hearings, Tachikawa said he hated Korean residents in Japan and that he came to believe after reading Twitter posts that they, and the groups, were a threat to the Japanese people.
In handing down the ruling, the judge said it is “only natural for other people to have different political views under a democratic society, and countering it with violence cannot be tolerated.”
The court does not take the anxiety he caused to students and other people via his actions lightly, he added.
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According to the ruling, Tachikawa entered the school on April 5 and damaged its first floor after igniting a cardboard box.
No injuries were reported after the incident at the school, which enrols students from various backgrounds, including Japanese, Korean, Chinese and US nationals.
Prosecutors had demanded a three-year prison term, but the defence team claimed Tachikawa was remorseful about his actions and called for a suspended sentence.
