7 minutes ago
image source, GAASYY/YOUTUBE
picture description,
Yoshikazu Higashitani was Japan’s first lawmaker to be kicked out of Parliament without ever entering
Police in Japan have arrested a YouTuber and former MP for allegedly threatening celebrities.
Yoshikazu Higashitani, known as GaaSyy on YouTube, is famous for his celebrity gossip videos.
Local media said he returned to Japan from the United Arab Emirates two months after Tokyo police issued his arrest warrant.
He is accused of making defamation threats to an actor, a businessman and a designer between February and August last year.
He is also suspected of interfering with the designer’s business activities.
Mr. Higashitani repeatedly ignored requests to return to Japan and voluntarily submit to police interrogation.
The Tokyo police had sent investigators to the United Arab Emirates since May and asked the authorities there to extradite him to Japan.
Japan’s foreign minister ordered him to return his passport after Tokyo police received his warrant in March, but Mr Higashitani said he lost it. His passport expired the following month.
Mr. Higashitani was one of two members elected by the Seijika-joshi-48 party – a single-issue party calling for reforms to Japan’s public broadcaster.
During his seven-month tenure, the social media personality refused to leave his home in Dubai and did not attend a single legislative session.
At the time, Japanese media reported that he had refused to appear in parliament because he feared being arrested on allegations of fraud and celebrity defamation.
Lawmakers required Mr Higashitani to fly to Tokyo to personally apologize in the plenary for his absence, but he did not show up for the plenary session.
Instead, he announced on his YouTube channel that he would be traveling to Turkey – and that he plans to donate his salary to Turkish earthquake relief efforts.
His absence angered the Senate, whose members voted unanimously to expel him.
Comments are closed.