The ex-leader of an armed Japanese far-left group from the 1970s has died on death row, 29 years after she was sentenced to hang over the savage group killings of 14 fellow radicals.Hiroko Nagata, 65, a central figure in the now-defunct extremist group the United Red Army, died late Saturday from multiple organ failure, Jiji Press and other news outlets said, quoting Japan's Justice Ministry.
One of the founders of the ultra-leftist militia, which became notorious for its extreme brutality despite the group's small size, Nagata led a series of group killings of members deemed not revolutionary enough in 1971-72.
From carrying out the murders in the name of promoting violent communist revolution at any cost, Nagata was said to have admitted her crimes and eventually wept at her trial, saying: "Even I had human emotions."