JAPAN. DEATH SENTENCE UPHELD FOR 'EXORCIST' WHO KILLED SIX

the Sendai High Court, Japan, upheld a death sentence against a woman calling herself an exorcist for killing six of her followers by repeatedly beating them on the pretext of exorcising evil spirits. Sachiko Eto, 58, beat followers with drumsticks in her house in Sukagawa, Fukushima Prefecture, where she lived with them, between January and June 1995 as a way of forcing demons from their bodies, the ruling at the Fukushima District Court said. As a result, six followers died and one was injured. Eto was quoted as saying the ruling is "totally unacceptable," and immediately appealed to the Supreme Court, according to her lawyers. They argued during the high court hearings that Eto was not mentally competent to take responsibility for her actions because she had believed she was possessed at the time of the beatings. Rejecting the claim, Presiding Judge Ryoichi Tanaka said: "Even if the defendant was possessed, it was temporary. "It is obvious that the defendant tried to maintain her authority in the group," he said.