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dpa
Tokyo
One of the founders of the extreme-left Japanese Red Army terrorist group, Fusako Shigenobu, was released from prison on Saturday after a long sentence, according to Japanese media reports.
Now 76-years-old, Shigenobu spent decades running from the authorities before being arrested in Japan in 2000. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 1974 hostage-taking in the French embassy in The Hague after a six-year trial.
Upon her release, Shigenobu said that because her group had put fighting ahead of everything else, innocent people whom she didn’t know had suffered.
“I would like to use this opportunity to apologize,” she is reported to have said.
During her imprisonment, it was reported that she underwent a number of cancer operations.
During the siege of the French embassy in the Dutch city on September 13, 1974, Shigenobu’s group took the French ambassador and 10 other people hostage to force the release of an imprisoned member of their group.
Two police officers were injured. Shigenobu was not present for the hostage-taking, but a court found her guilty of planning the crime along with three other members of the Red Army in 2006.
Shigenobu had participated in the founding of the Red Army in Lebanon in 1971. At its peak in the 70s the group numbered around 40 members.
A year after her arrest, Shigenobu disbanded the group.
Tokyo
One of the founders of the extreme-left Japanese Red Army terrorist group, Fusako Shigenobu, was released from prison on Saturday after a long sentence, according to Japanese media reports.
Now 76-years-old, Shigenobu spent decades running from the authorities before being arrested in Japan in 2000. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 1974 hostage-taking in the French embassy in The Hague after a six-year trial.
Upon her release, Shigenobu said that because her group had put fighting ahead of everything else, innocent people whom she didn’t know had suffered.
“I would like to use this opportunity to apologize,” she is reported to have said.
During her imprisonment, it was reported that she underwent a number of cancer operations.
During the siege of the French embassy in the Dutch city on September 13, 1974, Shigenobu’s group took the French ambassador and 10 other people hostage to force the release of an imprisoned member of their group.
Two police officers were injured. Shigenobu was not present for the hostage-taking, but a court found her guilty of planning the crime along with three other members of the Red Army in 2006.
Shigenobu had participated in the founding of the Red Army in Lebanon in 1971. At its peak in the 70s the group numbered around 40 members.
A year after her arrest, Shigenobu disbanded the group.
