Ex-sumo stablemaster given 6-yr prison term over wrestler's death+

NAGOYA, May 29 Kyodo -
The Nagoya District Court sentenced a former sumo stablemaster Friday to six
years in prison over the physical abuse of a 17-year-old wrestler that led to
his death in 2007.

Presiding Judge Masaharu Ashizawa said Junichi Yamamoto, 59, with his
''immeasurable power'' as master of the Tokitsukaze sumo stable, played a key
role in the two-day-long physical abuse, which ''grossly disrespected the
victim's human dignity.''
Three senior wrestlers at the stable who were involved in the abuse of the
victim, Takashi Saito, whose ring name was Tokitaizan, have already received
suspended prison terms and were dismissed by the Japan Sumo Association
following the guilty verdict.
Yamamoto immediately filed an appeal against the ruling and was released on
bail of 10 million yen after being briefly imprisoned.
The high-profile case has put the spotlight on questionable traditions in the
sumo world including the way new wrestlers are trained.
Prosecutors had sought a seven-year prison term for Yamamoto, who was also
dismissed by the association in October 2007 in the wake of the scandal.
The court determined Yamamoto ordered the three wrestlers to attack Saito to
punish him for trying to run away from the stable and that a sparring bout that
took place on the second day of the abuse ''obviously deviated from the realm
of normal practice.''
Yamamoto's defense counsel had claimed the senior wrestlers attacked Saito on
their own initiative and that the sparring was a regular practice. They sought
a suspended term for Yamamoto saying he should have been facing a charge of
fatal professional negligence as supervisor of the stable rather than injury
resulting in death.
According to the ruling, Yamamoto hit Saito with a beer bottle during dinner on
June 25, 2007, and told the three wrestlers to beat him with a wooden stick
afterwards.
Saito was smashed onto the ring and beaten with a metal bat by the wrestlers
during a 30-minute sparring session the next day and died from shock due to
multiple trauma at a hospital.
Yamamoto, who was released from detention on bail of 8 million yen in March,
about 13 months after his arrest, apologized to Saito's family during the trial
but denied he instructed the assault.
Saito's death, followed by a series of drug-related scandals, has tarnished the
image of Japan's traditional sport.
==Kyodo