PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This Blog is interested in false confessions because of the disturbing number of exonerations in the USA, Canada and multiple other jurisdictions throughout the world, where, in the absence of incriminating forensic evidence the conviction is based on self-incrimination – and because of the growing body of scientific research showing how vulnerable suspects are to widely used interrogation methods such as the notorious ‘Reid Technique.’ As all too many of this Blog's post have shown, I also recognize that pressure for false confessions can take many forms, up to and including physical violence, even physical and mental torture.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog:
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "However, as the trial that began in July revealed, the prosecution's case was based on fabricated evidence and the extortion of confessions over the course of hundreds of interrogations. A police officer who was called to testify even suggested that the investigations were intended to serve the ambitions of some of his superiors. At the start of the investigation in 2018, prosecutors contacted the Ministry of Economy (METI), which confirmed that there was nothing to prohibit exports of the machines in question, as they could not be used for military purposes. The public prosecutor allegedly overlooked this fact and forced METI to collaborate with the prosecution. An investigator also pressured one of the three defendants to sign a written statement, the contents of which were worded in such a way as to confirm the accusations. Although the police consulted experts, one of them explained to the court, "What I said was changed."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Like others before them, the Ohkawara Kakohki managers fell victim to the excesses of the Japanese justice system, which denies criminal suspects "the rights to due process and a fair trial," as Human Rights Watch (HRW) pointed out in a report published in May 2023. Focused on obtaining confessions, it allows suspects to be held in police custody for up to 23 days, renewable indefinitely on the basis of other charges…"
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STORY: "In Japan a trial rekindles criticism of hostage justice system," by Reporter Philippe Mesmer (Tokyo, Japan) published one January 1, 2024.
GIST: "The sentencing on Wednesday, December 27 of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and Public Prosecutor's Office for fabricating evidence in order to indict the directors of the Ohkawara Kakohki company has rekindled criticism of the excesses of the Japanese justice system, often dubbed "hostage justice."
In an editorial, the conservative daily newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun called on the police and prosecutors to "establish the causes" of this case, which has "extremely serious consequences."
Ohkawara Kakohki was suspected of having sold to China a number of spray-drying machines (a dehydration method), which investigators claimed could be used for military purposes.
Japan prohibits the sale to China of equipment that could potentially be used for weapons.
On March 10, 2019, prosecutors took three company executives into custody, including CEO Masaaki Okawara.
On March 31, they indicted them and kept them in custody.
On May 26, the three men were again questioned, this time for selling machines to South Korea, then subject to economic sanctions by Japan over a dispute around memorials.
Requests for bail were denied, on the grounds that the suspects might destroy evidence. They were not granted bail until February 2020.
One of the three defendants, Shizuo Aijima, died of neglected stomach cancer while in custody.
The case brought Ohkawara Kakohki to the brink of bankruptcy.
'What I said was changed'
However, as the trial that began in July revealed, the prosecution's case was based on fabricated evidence and the extortion of confessions over the course of hundreds of interrogations.
A police officer who was called to testify even suggested that the investigations were intended to serve the ambitions of some of his superiors.
At the start of the investigation in 2018, prosecutors contacted the Ministry of Economy (METI), which confirmed that there was nothing to prohibit exports of the machines in question, as they could not be used for military purposes.
The public prosecutor allegedly overlooked this fact and forced METI to collaborate with the prosecution.
An investigator also pressured one of the three defendants to sign a written statement, the contents of which were worded in such a way as to confirm the accusations.
Although the police consulted experts, one of them explained to the court, "What I said was changed."
Like others before them, the Ohkawara Kakohki managers fell victim to the excesses of the Japanese justice system, which denies criminal suspects "the rights to due process and a fair trial," as Human Rights Watch (HRW) pointed out in a report published in May 2023.
Focused on obtaining confessions, it allows suspects to be held in police custody for up to 23 days, renewable indefinitely on the basis of other charges…"
The entire story portion can be read at:
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RELATED: ASAHI SHIMBUN STORY:
STORY: "Court orders compensation for 3 arrested in ‘fabricated’ case," published by The Asahi Shimbun, on December 27, 2023.
GIST: "The Tokyo District Court on Dec. 27 awarded compensation to three company officials who were wrongly arrested in a “fabricated” case that tied them to exports of biological weapons parts.
The court ordered the central and Tokyo metropolitan governments to each pay about 160 million yen ($1.1 million) to the three plaintiffs, including Shizuo Aishima, an adviser at Yokohama-based Ohkawara Kakohki Co., who died before he could clear his name.
Masaaki Okawara, president of Ohkawara Kakohki, Aishima and the other senior official were arrested in March 2020 on suspicion of violating the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law.
The company manufactures and exports spray dryers.
The Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Security Bureau determined the company’s products could be converted to create biological weapons, and that exporting such equipment without permission was illegal.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office indicted the three the same month. But the indictment was retracted in July 2021 after the possibility arose that equipment in question was not subject to the export restrictions.
The plaintiffs head to the Tokyo District Court on Dec. 27. (Shota Tomonaga)
Before then, Aishima had died of cancer.
The lawsuit seeking about 570 million yen in compensation was filed in September 2021.
Lawyers for the company argued that the economy ministry, which oversaw such exports, did not have a clear definition of what constituted banned equipment, so the police came up with their own interpretation to arrest the three.
Tests of the equipment would have shown that it did not contain a disinfecting function, one of the conditions for the export restriction, but such tests were never conducted, the plaintiffs argued.
Police and prosecutors argued in court that they were correct in going ahead with the arrests and indictments.
However, a current assistant inspector gave stunning testimony in June that the case against the three was fabricated.
Another assistant inspector told the court that senior investigators have a tendency to understate evidence that does not align with their assumptions in a case.
Before he was arrested in March 2020, Aishima was questioned voluntarily by police 18 times.
His widow recalls him saying after those sessions that the police did not properly study details of the equipment and were utterly unable to understand what he was trying to tell them.
While he was in detention, a stomach tumor was discovered, and his lawyers asked that he be released to a hospital for more detailed analysis and proper treatment.
The court in November 2020 finally allowed Aishima to enter a hospital for two weeks, but by that time the cancer had metastasized to the liver, and there was little doctors could do to treat the illness.
Aishima died before the indictment was retracted.
His widow attended all of the court sessions.
She said the testimony by the assistant inspector that the case had been fabricated was one of the few bright spots.
But she said she can never forget the complete lack of remorse by the other officers who testified in their defense.
She said all she wanted was an apology from the police.'
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15096868
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| PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog; |
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.
Lawyer Radha Natarajan;
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater's attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it's the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.
