The
Introduction of “A Research inThe Introduction of “A Research into
the Sayama Case as a False Charge”
We would like to consider with you why
false charges happen and how we could prevent them
by looking into the problems of the Sayama Case.
And the trial member system, or the citizen judge
system, started in Japan in May, 2009 and there
is a possibility that we might be chosen a trial
member some day. So we also hope that to investigate
the case will enable each of us to gain the ability
to see through to the truth.
The reason for taking up the Sayama
Case to find measures against false accusations
is that it contains almost all the problems of the
criminal trial in Japan. For example, investigations
on presumption of guilt, prolonged detention, forced
confessions, too many written statements of expert
opinions and so forth.
The Sayama Case is an incident in
which a high school girl was kidnapped in Sayama,
north of Tokyo, on May 1, 1963 and three days later,
she was found dead. On may 23, Kazuo Ishikawa, a
youth aged 24 from buraku district in the city,
was arrested on a charge of stealing. But the police
tried to extort a confession from him that he had
killed the girl. Ishikawa did not admit to the crime
and insisted on his innocence in a police cell,
which was used as daiyo kangoku or substitute detention
facilities. About one month after the first arrest,
however, he was rearrested, this time on a charge
of kidnap and murder. Police strict interrogations
continued. In the end he gave in and told a false
story that he had killed the girl. Throughout the
first trial, he did not retract his false confession,
which brought the death penalty on him.
He protested his innocence at beginning
of the second trial, only to be given the imprisonment
for an indefinite term. In 1994, after 31 years
of imprisonment, he was released on a parole and
has continued to plead innocent since.
He has submitted the third petition
for retrial to the Tokyo High Court and is, at present,
waiting for a decision. On December 16, 2009, Hiroshi
Kadono, the chief judge of the Tokyo High Court,
recommended the prosecutors to disclose the investigation
notes, evidence connected with the handwritings,
the examination results of bloodstains left on the
murder scene, eyewitness evidence and so on at the
retrial deliberative council of the three parties
(the judges, the lawyers and prosecutors). This
is the first time that recommendations for disclosing
various kinds of evidence have been made by judge
at the retrial deliberative council of the Sayama
Case, which may change the direction of the council.
On our homepage, we are going to take up the
following item, giving careful consideration to
human rights. (some to be translated into English)
(1) the introduction of “a research into
the Sayama Case as a false charge”
(2) the reason that citizens conclude Ishikawa
innocent
(3) the introduction of other false charge
cases
(4) the present situations and problems
of the criminal trial including the trial member
system in japan
(5) the problems of the death penalty system
(6) other related issues
In addition to our papers, we would
like to put here opinions from those not belonging
to the institute. Anyone who has something to say,
please let us know by e-mail. And anyone who wants
to be a member of our section, or volunteers to
make a Japanese-English translation, please contact
us by e-mail as well.
March
3, 2010
Takeshi
Naito
representative
of the Sayama Section
of
Eastern Japan Buraku Liberation Institute
About
the Sayama Section of Eastern Japan Buraku Liberation
Institute
Our section consists of college clerical
workers, high school teachers, company employees
and others who are interested in the Sayama Case.
We got together in 1988 and have been studying the
case. What we have looked into so far is such problems
of the case as the investigation processes, false
confessions, handwriting, the exact time of the
girl’s death and so on. The trial member system
is also included.
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