A man was referred to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office by the Metropolitan Police Department on Thursday on charges of criminal insult for allegedly posting abusive messages on social media directed at professional wrestler Hana Kimura, who committed suicide in May aged 22.
Kimura had been a cast member on the reality show "Terrace House" that aired on Fuji Television.
According to the police, an Osaka Prefecture resident in his 20s is suspected of posting abusive messages directed at Kimura on Twitter around mid-May, including comments, such as " Hey, when will you die?" and "Is your life worth living?"
The man admitted to the charges, reportedly saying that he could not tolerate her attitude in the TV program and wanted to hurt her.
Kimura had saved about 200 images of malicious social media posts on her smartphone, including posts from the suspect, according to investigative sources.
She lashed out at a male cast member in an episode of the show released online on March 31, after which she started to receive abuse online.
Most of the accounts used to post abusive comments were deleted after her death, but the MPD was able to retrieve some data. Of the about 1,200 posts analyzed, about 300 cases of abuse from about 200 accounts were confirmed.
The suspect sent an email to Kimura's family to apologize in June in which he admitted to being one of the people who had driven her to commit suicide. The MPD concluded that legal action was necessary as his posts were particularly malicious and occurred multiple times.
Hana's mother, Kyoko Kimura, 43, brought a criminal charge against the man in November.
"Deciding to take criminal action against a man who has owned up and apologized was tough, but if he was allowed to get away with it, Hana's death would be in vain," she told the MPD. "I want this incident to be widely known so that we can create a world without abuse," she reportedly said.
Kyoko released a comment on Thursday, saying: "No matter what I do, Hana is not coming back. But I hope that the legal action will serve as a deterrent and help to reduce the number of people going through sad and painful experiences. I want the perpetrator to pay for his crime and then move on and lead a happy life for Hana's sake."
Fuji Television's publicity department said that the company was not able to comment about the matter.
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