Japan gov't not liable over 2018 execution of man who had been seeking retrial
A Japanese court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit calling on the central government to pay 16.5 million yen in damages over the 2018 execution of a death row inmate who had filed a retrial petition.
The Osaka District Court rejected a complaint submitted by three former attorneys of Keizo Okamoto, who was executed at age 60 for the 1988 robbery and murder of the president and an employee of an investment advisory company.
The plaintiffs argued Okamoto's execution infringed Article 32 of the Constitution stating, "No person shall be denied the right of access to the courts," which underlies Japan's retrial system as a safeguard against miscarriages of justice.
They also said the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights -- part of the International Bill of Human Rights -- guarantees, "Anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence."
The central government argued the execution was lawful under Article 442 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, under which a retrial request does not halt sentencing, and the covenant does not explicitly ban such action.
The complaint said the government should protect the activities of defense attorneys to the maximum extent possible as carrying out the death penalty when a request for a retrial has been submitted makes it impossible to save a client's life.
According to the final ruling, Okamoto was sentenced to death in 2004 for robbing the president and employee of 100 million yen and killing them in Osaka. After he was executed while his fourth retrial request was still under review, his former lawyers filed suit in 2020.
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