My name is Shoji Sakurai and I spent 29 years in prison for a crime I did not commit. I was a victim of enzai -- a widespread practice where Japanese police and prosecutors forcibly exact a false confession from an innocent person during closed interrogations. 

Recently, the Ministry of Justice held hearings to investigate the Postal administration corruption case （Yusei case ) where Atsuko Muraki was falsely accused and indicted,but got innocense sentence because the fact was revealed that the prosecutor tampered the important evidence.

The committee found that the  investigation and court proceedings relied too heavily on  false confession of other defendants and pointed out the need for full audio and visual recording of interrogations.

However, the committee ultimately decided that whether to record interrogations in the future should be left to the discretion of the interrogators. Further, there is the possibility that prosecutorial power will be further expanded through the use of plea bargaining and wiretapping.

As a victim of enzai, I am firmly opposed to these conclusions.

By the very nature of their role, police are ill-equipped to pass judgement on those they arrest. The police deal with criminals constantly; this ill will becomes a desire to exact confession from every suspect, and finally results in enzai, a forced and false confession by innocent people.

The only way to prevent enzai is to implement audio and visual recording of all interrogations.

I do not believe the people who join the police force -- many with desire to make society a better and more just place -- want to engage in violent and inappropriate interrogations. But they are being told: “You must force them to confess.” Thus the implementation of recordings will not only protect the innocent, but the human rights of the police as well.

Another factor that contributes to enzai in Japan is the exclusive possession of evidence by prosecutors.

In many cases, including Fukawa case in which I was a victim, prosecutors willfully continue to hide evidence that would prove innocence. But why should evidence that is collected with taxpayer funds be accessible only to the prosecution?

I spent 29 years in prison, and including the time for a retrial, it took 44 years to prove my innocence. The reason is because the prosecutors hid critical evidence.

We must stop enzai now. Please sign and share this petition. Thank you for your support. 

Shoji Sakurai, Fukawa case enzai victim 

 

Resources

The Fukawa Incident (Japanese)
http://www.fureai.or.jp/~takuo/fukawajiken/

Fukawa Incident (Japan Innocence and death penalty Research Center)
http://www.jiadep.org/Fukawa.html

National Association for Enzai Cases (Japanese)
http://enzai.9ch.cx/

Say NO to Wrongful convictions - SNOW
http://www.snow.jca.apc.org

Japan Bar Association’s statement
http://www.nichibenren.or.jp/activity/document/statement/year/2013/130604.html

UN Human Rights document 

http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CAT%2fC%2fJPN%2fCO%2f2&Lang=en

 

 

日本語版はこちらから