A Japanese court yesterday sentenced a former sumo stablemaster to six years in prison for ordering the beating of a teenage wrestler who later died of his injuries.
In a case that brought outrage at the ancient sport’s harsh training methods, Junichi Yamamoto, 59, the former head of the Tokitsukaze stable, was indicted last year for ordering the “hazing” in June 2007.
The Nagoya District Court in central Japan sentenced him to six years in prison after prosecutors had demanded seven years without suspension, and defense lawyers had sought a suspended sentence.
Prosecutors said Yamamoto had ordered three senior wrestlers to assault 17-year-old Takashi Saito, with one using a metal baseball bat, after he had repeatedly tried to run away from the stable.
The following day the teenager collapsed and died after an exhausting sparring session. He was pronounced dead from heart failure, but an autopsy and inquests later found the attack contributed to his death.
While Yamamoto’s defense lawyer contended that the harsh treatment did not cause Saito’s death, Yamamoto admitted striking the teenager over the head with a beer bottle after he attempted to run away from the stable.
Presiding Judge Masaharu Ashizawa said: “A stablemaster is expected to play the role of guardian to his apprentices. It is outrageous that he committed such an act.”
After the verdict, Saito’s father, Masato Saito, told a television interviewer: “I understand the sentence was appropriate. But as his father, I can tell you that even a decades-long sentence would not be enough.”
BLOODSHED: North Koreans take extreme measures to avoid being taken prisoner and sometimes execute their own forces, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday said that Russian and North Korean forces sustained heavy losses in fighting in Russia’s southern Kursk region. Ukrainian and Western assessments say that about 11,000 North Korean troops are deployed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces occupy swathes of territory after staging a mass cross-border incursion in August last year. In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy quoted a report from Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi as saying that the battles had taken place near the village of Makhnovka, not far from the Ukrainian border. “In battles yesterday and today near just one village, Makhnovka,
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
Some things might go without saying, but just in case... Belgium’s food agency issued a public health warning as the festive season wrapped up on Tuesday: Do not eat your Christmas tree. The unusual message came after the city of Ghent, an environmentalist stronghold in the country’s East Flanders region, raised eyebrows by posting tips for recycling the conifers on the dinner table. Pointing with enthusiasm to examples from Scandinavia, the town Web site suggested needles could be stripped, blanched and dried — for use in making flavored butter, for instance. Asked what they thought of the idea, the reply
US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen on Monday met virtually with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) and raised concerns about “malicious cyber activity” carried out by Chinese state-sponsored actors, the US Department of the Treasury said in a statement. The department last month reported that an unspecified number of its computers had been compromised by Chinese hackers in what it called a “major incident” following a breach at contractor BeyondTrust, which provides cybersecurity services. US Congressional aides said no date had been set yet for a requested briefing on the breach, the latest in a serious of cyberattacks
RSS