Osaka court rejects damages suit over coercive interrogations
In an interlocutory judgment, presiding Judge Shinji Oda said that the investigations by the special investigation squad of the Osaka District Public Prosecutor's Office "cannot be regarded as illegal."
The former president, Shinobu Yamagishi, 62, of Osaka-based real estate company Pressance, was seeking about ¥700 million in damages from the government. He plans to appeal the ruling.
The coercive interrogations were conducted during investigations into embezzlement, for which Yamagishi was arrested and tried but later acquitted.
The judge said that the special squad's indictment "certainly contained parts seen as deserving criticism in hindsight."
But "it cannot be said that at the stage of indictment, (the squad) had gone too far and reached a level where rationality cannot be affirmed," he said, adding that there was a "considerable reason" to make the arrest.
In a hearing in the damages lawsuit, the court examined video footage of a prosecutor's interrogation of a then subordinate of Yamagishi who made a statement leading to the arrest of the president.
The footage showed the prosecutor, Daisuke Tabuchi, 52, banging a desk and shouting, "Don't make a fool of me!"
The judge criticized Tabuchi for using a "significantly inappropriate interrogation method."
But the subordinate does not seem to have been terrified or deprived of his free will, the judge said, explaining the reason for his judgment.
"This outcome was unexpected. I'm bewildered," Yamagishi told a news conference in Osaka. "In a situation like this, false accusations will not disappear."
"I wonder how a judge can write such a verdict after seeing the recorded interrogation," Yamagishi's lawyer said.
Yamagishi was arrested and indicted in 2019 for allegedly embezzling ¥2.1 billion in deposits related to the sale of land held by an Osaka school operator.
The district court acquitted him in October 2021, denying the credibility of witness statements. His acquittal became final as the Osaka prosecutors office did not appeal.
In August 2024, the Osaka High Court decided to bring Tabuchi to trial on charges of special public servant assault and cruelty. He will appear in court as a defendant.
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