Friday, July 9, The Tokyo High Court rejected
a second request for a retrial by Kazuo Ishikawa,
an innocent "burakumin," who served
31 years in prison for the 1963 "Sayama"
killing of a 16-year-old girl. We strongly
dame this dismissal.
Mr. Ishikawa was arrested on suspicion of
kidnapping for ransam and killing Yoshie
Nakata, a high school girl, in May 1963 in
Sayama, Saitama Prefecture. The case is widely
known as the "Sayama Incident."
Buraku Liberation League and Ishikawa's supporters
claimed his prosecution, based on sloppy
investigation, was part of continuing discrimination
against "burakumin," descendants
of former "social outcasts." Burakumin
have the same racial and national origins
as other Japanese, but have been subject
to prejudice and discrimination for hundreds
of years since feudal times.
Under brutal and discriminatory investigation
by police, Mr. Ishikawa, at first, confessed
to killing Nakata immediately after his arrest,
and pleaded guilty to the Urawa District
Court, which sentenced him to death in 1964.
However, Mr. Ishikawa retracted the confession
and pleaded not guilty as he appealed the
case to the Tokyo High Court. Although there
were enough evidence to prove him not guilty,
the High Court commuted the sentence to life
imprisonment in 1974. In 1970s, the Buraku
Liberation League, workers and citizens held
a series of huge demonstrations against discriminatory
trial. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court, at
last, upheld his life sentence in August
1977.
Though Mr. Ishikawa, in prison, filed his
first appeal for retrial in 1977, it was
dismissed in 1980 at the Tokyo High Court
and in 1985 by the Supreme Court. After his
defense team filed a second appeal in 1986,
Mr. Ishikawa was finally released from jail
in December 1994 after 31 years behind bars.
In spite that the 31 years he spent in prison
left him mentally unstable and he initially
had trouble readjusting to society, he gradually
rebuild his life with constant help from
the supporters and married a longtime supporter
in December 1997. Since his release in 1994,
Mr. Ishikawa has frequently attended activities
organaized by Buraku Liberation League to
counter discrimination against burakumin.
In the second retrial application, Mr. Ishikawa's
defense team submitted to Tokyo High Court
a report containing new evidence proving
his innocence, such as:
* an expert's testimony claimed that an extortion
letter sent to Nakata's family was not written
by Ishikawa.
* testimony by a former investigator casting
doubt on the circomstances surrounding the
finding of Nakata's fountain pen, which police
claimed to have found as Ishikawa's home.
* the blackmail letter bore marks made by
work gloves - a fact that contradicts Mr.
Ishikawa's confession. (submitted by the
defense team June 10)
Saying that the previous court decisions
left no room for doubt, Toshio Takagi, the
presideing judge ot the High Cout, however,
dismissed all the evidence. This rejection
is no doubt prolonged discrimination against
burakumin.
Blame Tokyo High Court for its discrimination
against brakumin!
All burakumin, workers and citizens unite
for burakumin's Liberation!