TOKYO: Former Japanese lawmaker GaaSyy was indicted Friday for allegedly threatening celebrities repeatedly in YouTube videos.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office charged GaaSyy, 51, whose real name is Yoshikazu Higashitani, with habitual intimidation and forcible obstruction of business.

GaaSyy had been arrested on suspicion of threatening three people in YouTube videos between February and August 2022, saying that he would expose every secret he knew about them. He also allegedly obstructed the business of one of the three by telling the person to quit the business.

GaaSyy has admitted during police questioning that he made such threatening remarks in YouTube videos but claimed that he did not think his acts could amount to a crime, according to investigative sources.

After receiving criminal complaints from victims, Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department asked GaaSyy several times to present himself for voluntary questioning.

As he refused, the MPD obtained an arrest warrant for him in March this year.

In May, the Tokyo police sent investigators to the United Arab Emirates, where he was staying, to ask local authorities for his early extradition. GaaSyy was arrested June 4 upon his arrival in Japan.

While based in the UAE, GaaSyy became popular after he started posting revealing stories about Japanese celebrities.

The YouTuber won a parliamentary seat for the first time in the July 2022 election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament.

He was expelled from the chamber and lost his status as a lawmaker in March this year, however, as a penalty for never attending a Diet meeting after winning the seat.

JIJI Press