Man given 5-year term for shooting ex-agriculture minister over money trouble

Apr 08, 2020 | News On Japan

Apr 08, 2020 (Japan Today) - A Japanese court sentenced an 83-year-old man to five years in prison on Tuesday for shooting a former agriculture minister and high school classmate with a gun and injuring him in the northeastern prefecture of Iwate last December while disputing over decades-old money trouble.

The Morioka District Court found Hisashi Takahashi, a local farmer, guilty of shooting Tokuichiro Tamazawa, 82, in his thigh and knee with a revolver last Dec 10 at the retired politician's house in Morioka, leaving him with non-life threatening injuries.

According to the ruling, Takahashi provided 10 million yen to Tamazawa's campaign in the lower house election in 1972. The defendant filed a lawsuit against Tamazawa seeking repayment in 2014, but it was dismissed the following year due to the statute of limitations.

"The defendant tried to resolve the money trouble by threatening the victim with a gun, and shot him after he became furious at the victim's unsatisfactory response," Presiding Judge Ryo Kato said when handing down the ruling.

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