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Man sentenced to death killing mayor of Nagasaki

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-26 15:16

TOKYO  -- A gangster accused of shooting Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito to death last April was convicted and sentenced to death penalty on Monday by the Nagasaki District Court.

Tetsuya Shiroo, 60, shot the mayor twice in the back with a pistol during the mayor's campaigning for reelection in front of the city's central railway station on the evening of April 17, 2007. The mayor died the next morning in hospital due to loss of blood.

Prosecutors said Shiroo committed the crime due to grievance over the municipal government's policy which put him in financial trouble.

Prosecutors said the crime was an act of terrorism and the ultimate violence against authorities.

An earlier report said Shiroo was connected with Japan's largest organized crime syndicate the Yamaguchi-gumi.