PASSAGE OF THE DAY; "We deeply apologize for the great stress and burdens we have caused," Kamata said. "We will do our best to prevent any recurrence," he added, bowing. Mori said, "I apologize from the bottom of my heart." In reply, Okawara underlined the need to fully examine the case that hit his company and make sure that similar incidents never happen again. The bereaved family of Shizuo Aishima, a former executive who was diagnosed with stomach cancer while in detention and later died, did not attend the meeting. The family said it cannot accept an apology at this time."
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STORY: "Police and prosecutors apologize to Ohkawara Kakohki after illegal probe," published by Japan Times, (no attribution) on June 20, 2025.
PHOTO CAPTION" "Hirohide Mori (left), head of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office's public security division, and Tetsuro Kamata, deputy superintendent-general of Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department, bow toward former Ohkawara Kakohki executive Junji Shimada (second from right) and company President Masaaki Okawara on Friday in Yokohama."
GIST" Tokyo police and public prosecutors on Friday apologized to the president of Ohkawara Kakohki, a former executive and others after a recent court ruling on a damages lawsuit found their investigations into the machinery-maker were illegal.
Tetsuro Kamata, deputy superintendent-general of Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department, and Hirohide Mori, head of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office's public security division, made the apology to President Masaaki Okawara, 76, and others, including Junji Shimada, 72, a former executive, in a meeting at the company's head office in Yokohama.
"We deeply apologize for the great stress and burdens we have caused," Kamata said. "We will do our best to prevent any recurrence," he added, bowing.
Mori said, "I apologize from the bottom of my heart."
In reply, Okawara underlined the need to fully examine the case that hit his company and make sure that similar incidents never happen again.
The bereaved family of Shizuo Aishima, a former executive who was diagnosed with stomach cancer while in detention and later died, did not attend the meeting.
The family said it cannot accept an apology at this time.
A lawyer for the company submitted a written request that called for including a third party in a probe of the illegal investigations by the MPD and the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office.
In March 2020, the MPD's Public Security Bureau arrested Okawara and two other company executives, alleging that the company exported without permission a spray dryer that could be repurposed for weapons production.
In July 2021, the district public prosecutor's office dropped the charges against them, just before the first criminal court hearing on the case.
The president and others later filed the damages lawsuit against the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the state on the grounds that the authorities' investigations were unreasonable. Active police officers involved in the investigations testified that the case was a "fabrication."
On May 28 this year, the Tokyo High Court upheld a lower court ruling that found the arrests and the indictment illegal, ordering the state and the metropolitan government to pay a total of ¥166 million in damages.
On June 11, the MPD and the prosecutors office said they would not appeal the high court ruling and indicated plans to apologize directly to the company.'
The entire story can be read at:
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/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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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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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/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
———————————————————————————————
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;
—————————————————————————————————
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;
