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The story
In Kasumigaseki, Tokyo, in March 2025, defendant Shion Miyanishi (32) stood trial before a lay-judge panel on charges including attempted murder for slashing Takashi Tachibana (59) of the “Party to Protect the People from NHK” with a nata (a machete-like blade). On October 7, prosecutors sought a 12-year prison sentence. The defendant is a former supporter of Tachibana, and her motive is said to be regret over having voted for him. Reactions on the thread split between shock at how harsh the sentence was for an attempted crime, and others who argued that since a politician was the target, a severe punishment was only to be expected.
10/7 (Wed) 10:35
The lay-judge trial of defendant Shion Miyanishi (32), charged with attempted murder and other offenses for slashing Takashi Tachibana (59) of the political group “Party to Protect the People from NHK” with a nata in Kasumigaseki, Tokyo last March, was held at the Tokyo District Court on the 7th, where prosecutors sought a 12-year prison sentence.
Related thread
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Just let her out already — she'll probably end up with like a 1-year sentence.
What kind of pull does this guy have
Way harsher than other cases, that's wild
Well, even if she actually serves time, it'll probably get knocked down to like a tenth of that with a suspended sentence — which is a problem in its own right
Attacks on politicians specifically always seem to get oddly harsh sentences
honestly, this is light
Is this NHK getting its revenge baked in too?
Tachibana's all talk and never actually does anything — NHK probably doesn't even think twice about him
Hold on, before that…
my own sentence didn't even make sense
Maybe she's being kept in detention this whole time just because she's a nuisance
They might as well let her out
The guy who assassinated the mayor of Nagasaki also got life,
so they're probably following that precedent
In the end, she made up her mind after hearing his speech the day before
It's good it ended as just an attempt — though apparently that's only because she found out Tachibana had been arrested
Then Yamagami should get the death penalty
Between this and the Abe case, don't they just hand out automatically heavier sentences whenever a politician's the target?
When the Kansai Namacon (ready-mix concrete workers') union branch went on strike, the union leader got hit with a 10-year sentence demand on extortion charges
Can't help it, it's a challenge to democracy
If anything, this is light
What she did was basically murder
Background and Key Points of This Story
Attempted murder is punished in line with completed murder, and the statutory minimum sentence already starts around 5 years, making it inherently severe. Looking only at the fact that this 12-year sentence demand followed a minor injury, it can look excessive — but sentencing also weighs factors beyond the outcome, like premeditation and whether the target held social standing. That’s exactly where opinions split in the thread: some argued “it’s way too harsh for just a scratch,” while others countered that since a politician was targeted during a campaign speech, a severe sentence is only natural as an attack on democracy itself. Many posts also compared this case to the sentencing in past attacks on politicians, such as the shooting of former PM Shinzo Abe and the assassination of the mayor of Nagasaki, speculating that these precedents may have shaped the prosecution’s request. At the same time, the defendant’s motive and background are based solely on trial testimony as reported, so readers should treat these details with some caution rather than as settled fact.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Express+) thread “Prosecutors Seek 12-Year Sentence for Man Who Slashed N-Party’s Takashi Tachibana with a Nata.”
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