Issei Sagawa | |
|---|---|
佐川 一政 | |
| Born | 26 April 1949 Kobe, Japan |
| Died | 24 November 2022 (aged 73) Tokyo, Japan |
| Education | Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales, Wako University, University of Paris |
| Occupation | Author |
| Criminal charge(s) | Murder, cannibalism (identified as attempted rape by officials) |
| Criminal status | Deceased |
Issei Sagawa (佐川 一政, Sagawa Issei, 26 April 1949 – 24 November 2022)[1] also known as Pang or the Kobe Cannibal, was a Japanese lust murderer, cannibal, and necrophiliac known for the killing of Renée Hartevelt in Paris in 1981.
Sagawa murdered Hartevelt and then mutilated, cannibalized, and performed necrophilia on her corpse over several days. In France, Sagawa was judged to be legally insane and ordered to be held indefinitely in a mental institution. After a few years he was deported to Japan, where psychologists from Matsuzawa Hospital examined him and unanimously concluded that he was sane. He therefore had to be released from the hospital in 1986.
Since the criminal case in France had been closed and the court records were not made available to the Japanese authorities, Sagawa was not again put on trial and spent the rest of his life in freedom. While this was widely criticized as an example of obstruction of justice, he became a minor celebrity in Japan and made a living through the public's interest in his crime.