The Kokura branch of the Fukuoka District Court sentenced an underworld figure to eight years in prison Friday for attempting to set fire five times to the home and office of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Yamaguchi Prefecture in summer 2000.
Tomoya Jizobaru, 28, a former member of the Kudokai crime syndicate based in Kitakyushu, was found guilty of throwing firebombs, under orders from his boss, at Abe's home and office in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, between June and August 2000. Prosecutors had sought 10 years for Jizobaru.
Prosecutors argued in their closing statement that Saichi Koyama, a former executive of a building company in Shimonoseki who had supported an Abe-backed candidate in the city's mayoral race in 1999, was involved in the crime.
Koyama allegedly received 3 million yen from a secretary at Abe's local office as a reward for his support of the candidate, but later asked Motoshi Takano, 56, head of a smaller group within Kudokai, to harass Abe after the secretary refused to meet additional demands, according to the prosecutors.
Both Koyama and Takano have been tried separately in connection with the attempted arson.
Abe, who became prime minister in September, was elected to his third term in the House of Representatives from the Yamaguchi No. 4 district in June 2000, and the following month was appointed deputy chief Cabinet secretary under then Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.