Shizuoka –
Iwao Hakamata, a former death row inmate who was acquitted in a retrial for the 1966 murder of a family in Shizuoka Prefecture, on Thursday filed a damages lawsuit against the central and prefectural governments.
Hakamata, 89, sought some ¥600 million in damages, a record amount against the government in a suit over a retrial case. He pursued the responsibilities of police, public prosecutors and courts.
His complaint says that investigative authorities intentionally failed to record pertinent facts and evidence, instead concealing them. Despite knowing that police had fabricated evidence, public prosecutors went ahead and charged Hakamata, it says. It further claims that courts failed to explore the possibility of evidence fabrication.
According to his legal team, the damages claim includes compensation for mental suffering from his prolonged detention under fear of death penalty, wages he could have earned if he had not been detained and the costs of elderly care for him.
“Even after he was acquitted, we have yet to learn why the false accusations were made and what investigative authorities will do” to prevent recurrence, Hideyo Ogawa, head of the lawyers’ team, said at a news conference after filing the suit with the Shizuoka District Court.
The Shizuoka District Public Prosecutor’s Office declined to comment, saying the complaint had yet to arrive. The Supreme Court also declined to comment.
Hakamata was arrested on Aug. 18, 1966, on suspicion of robbery and murder by the Shizuoka Prefectural Police department, and his death penalty was finalized in 1980. He was detained for 47 years and seven months until the district court granted a retrial and ordered his release in March 2014.
In March this year, the court ordered that Hakamata be granted some ¥217 million in criminal damages for his unjust detention for more than 47 years, a record for criminal compensation in the country.
Former death row inmate Iwao Hakamata files damages suit against government
