JRA member gets life for embassy raids

Japan Red Army member gets life for embassy raids

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese court on Wednesday sentenced a former member of the Japanese Red Army guerrilla group to life in prison for his role in the takeover of two foreign embassies overseas in the 1970s.

Haruo Wako, 56, was involved in the seizure of the French Embassy in The Hague in 1974 and the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur the following year to back demands for the release of fellow members of the radical group from prison. Six Red Army members were set free as a result, and three remain at large.

In The Hague, Wako, along with two other Red Army members, took the French ambassador and other staff hostage and shot two police officers, seriously injuring them.

In Kuala Lumpur, Wako and four other Red Army members took over the U.S. embassy and fired on police.

He had been charged with attempted murder as well as abduction and confinement.

"They were historic crimes that affected the order of the judicial system because they forced the release of defendants involved in serious cases," presiding judge Kunihiko Koma said.

Wako is one of four Japanese Red Army members deported from Lebanon in March 2000 after finishing prison terms in the country for using forged passports.