Hakamata's sister asks for review of Japan's retrial system

Asahi Shimbun

2 days ago

The sister of Iwao Hakamata, a former boxer who was acquitted of murder charges after spending decades on death row, is seeking an overhaul of Japan's retrial system to prevent similar miscarriages of justice.
Hideko Hakamata, 92, sister of Iwao, 89, who was acquitted last year in a retrial, called for an urgent revision of the law to legal and prosectural officials at a meeting on May 30.
The Legislative Council subcommittee, an advisory body to the justice minister, is considering a review of the retrial system. It held the meeting to hear from Hideko, along with Iwao's lawyer and others.
'As a human being, would you consider the fact that Iwao worked so hard for 47 years and seven months?' Hideko asked the subcommittee members.
Iwao was arrested and indicted in 1966 for the murder of four members of the family of the managing director of a miso manufacturing company in Shizuoka Prefecture.
In 1980, the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence for robbery and murder. The following year, he began his legal fight for a new trial.
In 2010, during the second retrial request, color photographs of 'five articles of blooodstained clothing' were included in the disclosed evidence. The photographs subsequently became a major point of contention showing the evidence was likely fabricated at the start of his retrial and acquittal.
At this point, however, 29 years had elapsed since the first request for a retrial.
'If (the photographs) had been disclosed sooner, Iwao's suffering would have been shortened,' Hideko said. 'There should be no such thing as hiding what evidence exists. And moreover, it is a matter of a human life.'
The Code of Criminal Procedure, which sets forth the procedures for criminal trials, has 509 articles, but only 19 of these relate to retrials.
There are no rules on the disclosure of evidence and problems with 'retrial disparity,' which depend on the attitude of the judge in charge of the case, have been pointed out.
In Iwao's case, it took 42 years from the first request for a retrial to the decision to initiate a retrial.
One of the reasons for the lengthy proceedings was the lack of procedural rules, such as the designation of a date for the retrial.
Hideko spoke for Iwao, whose mental illness from his long years of incarceration have made it difficult for him to communicate with her.
'For a long time, it was a struggle against an invisible power," she told the subcommittee. '(We) didn't know who (we) were fighting or for how long. My brother was arrested at the age of 30 and his whole life was ruined. What was the government doing during this time?'
She added: 'There is no doubt that the law is inadequate. If what Iwao has struggled with for so long can at least be useful in the form of a revision of the law, I couldn't be happier.'