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Japan Innocence and Death Penalty Information Center (www.jiadep.org) CHART: Seeking Posthumous Justice 6 cases of wrongful conviction in Japan which are still being fought in court after the defendant's death / execution. Listed below is a separate chart for a well known case of posthumous exoneration and one of posthumous compensation. |
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Case Name Location Date of Incident Date of Arrest |
Defendant's Name(s) (Family First) F=female |
Charges ~~~~ Confessed? |
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Tokyo 1948/01/26 1948/01/26 |
Hirasawa Sadamichi |
Murder, Robbery ~~~ Yes, after 34 days of interrogation. |
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Summary 12 people died in a bank drinking medicine which was laced with poison. Investigators quickly surmised that the perpetrator had a deep knowledge of poisons and chemistry, probably a former member of the 731 Brigade. When the investigation failed to progress, they arrested 56 year old tenpera painter with no knowledge of chemistry. Court Chronology District Court 1950/07/24 Death High Court 1951/09/29 Death Supreme Court 1955/04/26 Confirmed Later Actions 87/05/10 Hirasawa dies in prison. Aged 95 2003: 20th appeal for retrial filed 2003. |
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Case Name Date of Incident Date of Arrest |
Defendant's Name(s) (Family First) F=female |
Charges ~~~~ Confessed? |
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Tokyo 1949/07/15 |
Takeuchi Keisuke + 9 others. |
Derailing a train and causing death |
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Summary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitaka_incident On July 15, 1949, A deadly derailment killed six people at Mitaka railway station in Tokyo. Ten people, including Takeuchi, were charged with train sabotage resulting in death. All were members of the Communist Party. In 1950 the Tokyo District Court sentenced Takeuchi to life imprisonment, and acquitted the 9 others. In 1951, the Tokyo High Court overturned the district court ruling and sentenced Takeuchi to death. The Supreme Court confirmed this decision in 1955. Court Chronology District Court 1950/08/11 Takeuchi: Life Imprisonment. Nine others: not guilty. High Court 1951/03/30 Takeuchi's sentence raised to death. Nine others: not guilty. Supreme Court 1955 Appeal denied. Death sentence is confirmed. Later Actions 1967: Takeuchi dies in prison seeking appeal. Appeals for Retrial: District Court: 2011 Second appeal for retrial is filed. High Court: 2019/07/31 Appeal is rejected. Death Sentence is reconfirmed. |
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Case Name Location Date of Incident Date of Arrest |
Defendant's Name(s) (Family First) F=female |
Charges ~~~~ Confessed? |
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名張 61/03/28 Mie Nabari City Arrested 61/04/02 |
Okunishi Masaru aged 35 Died October 3, 2015 Aged 89 |
Murder x 5 ~~~~~ Yes |
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Summary Five women died at a town meeting after drinking wine laced with poison. The investigation focussed on those in possession of the wine that day, and was narrowed to three people. The key suspect became thirty five year old Masaru Okunishi. Of the five women who perished, one was his wife and another was a lover. A great tragedy of Japanese justice, Okunishi was found not guilty in his first trial, and guilty in the second. He passed away on death row in 2015. Court Chronology District Court 1964/12/23 Not Guilty High Court 69/09/10 Death Nagoya High Court Supreme Court 1972/06/15 Confirmed Later Actions 73/04/15 First Request for retrial is filed. 2002 7th request for retrial is filed. 2005/04/05 Request for retrial is granted. Prosecution files objection. 2006/12/26 Prosecution’s objection is granted, retrial is revoked. 2012/05/25 Nagoya High Court denies retrial. 2018/12/08 Nagoya High Court denies 10th petition for retrial. Okunishi passed away October 3, 2015 |
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Case Name Location Date of Incident Date of Arrest |
Defendant's Name(s) (Family First) F=female |
Charges ~~~~~ Confessed |
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Shiga 1984/12/28 1987/12/29 |
Sakahara Hiromu died in prison Dec. 2012 (age 75) |
Murder / Robbery ~~~~~ Yes. |
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Summary Three years and one day after the robbery of a small bar and the murder of its elderly proprietess, police began questioning Sakahara, a former regular customer. Sakahara is mentally impaired and has never committed a crime. After three days of voluntary yet abusive police questioning, a confession was extracted. Court Chronology District Court 1995/06/30 Life Imprisonment High Court 1997/05/30 Life Imprisonment Supreme Court 2000/09/27 Confirmed Later Actions 06/03/27 Appeal for retrial is denied. Otsu D.C 2011 Appeal for retrial is denied. Osaka H.C. 12/03/08 Sakahara dies in prison (age 75). 12/03/30 Second appeal for retrial filed with Otsu D.C. 18/07/11 2nd request for retrial is granted. Otsu District Court. 2011: Sakahara dies in prison. |
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Case Name Location Date of Incident Date of Arrest |
Defendant's Name(s) (Family First) F=female |
Charges ~~~~ Confessed? |
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Fukuoka Iizuka Double Girls Murder 飯塚２女児 殺人事件 1992 |
久間三千年 |
Murder x 2 |
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Summary Executed on 2008/10/28. Kuma maintained his innocence. Note: execution in the short span of two years after the sentence has been finalized for a contested case is unheard of in modern times. Court Chronology District Court 1999/09/29 Death Fukuoka High Court 2001/10/10 Fukuoka Death Supreme Court 2006/09/08 Death Later Actions Executed: 2008/10/28 |
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Case Name Location Date of Incident Date of Arrest |
Defendant's Name(s) (Family First) F=female |
Charges ~~~~ Confessed? |
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Noda 野田 Noda City, Chiba 1979/09/11 1979/09/29 |
Aoyama Tadashi |
Murder ~~~ Yes |
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Summary Aoyama is mentally challenged. He was charged with the murder of a first grade elementary school student. Court Chronology District Court 1987/01/26 12 years. High Court 1989/09/06 Affirmed.
Supreme Court 1993/12/20 Appeal rejected. Sentence is confirmed. Later Actions 1994/08/14 Aoyama is released from prison. 2014/07/14 Retrial filed. 2019/09/18 Aoyama passes away. |
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A case of postumous exoneration: The Tokushima Radio Case. |
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Case Name Location Date of Incident Date of Arrest |
Defendant's Name(s) (Family First) F=female |
Charges ~~~~ Confessed? |
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Tokushima Radio Case 徳島ラジオ商殺し事件 |
FUJI Shigeko (Female) |
Murder |
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Summary Court Chronology District Court 1956 Sentenced to 13 years. High Court Supreme Court 1958 Sentence is confirmed. Later Actions 1959 First Appeal for retrial is filed Second Appeal for retrial is filed 1962 Third Appeal for retrial is filed 1966/11/30 Fuji is provisionally released. 1968 Fourt Appeal for retrial is filed. 1978 Fifth Appeal for retrial is filed. 1979/11/05 Fuji Dies. 1980 Appeal for retrial is accepted 1983 Retrial begins. 1985/07/09 Six years after her death, defendant is declared not guilty. A case of postumous exoneration: The Tok |
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A case of postumous compensation: The Yokohama Case. |
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Case Name Date of Incident Date of Arrest |
Defendant's Name(s) (Family First) F=female |
Charges ~~~~ Confessed? |
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横浜 1943 Kanagawa |
About 30 defendants, four of whom died of torture in prison. |
Violating the wartime peace preservation law ~~~ Yes, after torture. |
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Summary Court Chronology District Court 1945/August=September High Court Supreme Court Later Actions 1986~2002: four requests for retrial made. 2003-last remaining defendant passes away. 2003/April. Yokohama DC accepts request for retrial. Prosecution protests. 2005/March Tokyo HC upholds Yokohama DC decision. 2006/02/09 Yokohama DC issues decision of "menso(免訴)" non-prosecution. Defense appeals to the high court. 2007/01/19 Tokyo HC: Appeal is rejected. 2008/03/14 Supreme Court: Rejection is confirmed. 2010/02/04 Civil Suit: 4 descendants of former defendants are awarded 47 million yen ($500,000) in compensation. |
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