Overview
- The Kudo-kai–affiliated defendant, Tanaka Yukio, is on trial for the 2013 shooting death of Ohsho Food Service president Takayuki Daito outside the company’s Kyoto headquarters.
- At the March 23 hearing, Tanaka declined to answer any questions from his lawyers, prosecutors, or the court, invoking his legal right not to testify.
- Presiding Judge Nishikawa Atsushi confirmed the refusal on the record after the defendant answered yes to rejecting all questioning.
- Victim-impact statements from Daito’s relatives expressed profound grief and called for severe punishment.
- The case hinges on forensic and circumstantial evidence because there is no direct eyewitness testimony, and the court has set prosecutors’ summation for June 29 with a judgment due October 16.