*Translated by Google Translate

Introduction

Iwao's lost 58 years are irreparable.

Iwao's older sister, Hideko Hakamada, sacrificed her own life to support him for 58 years until he was acquitted in a retrial.
Hideko's lost life is irreparable.

Currently, Iwao is 90 years old and Hideko is 93 years old.

Is it because Mr. Iwao and Ms. Hideko were wrongly accused 58 years ago?
Can we say that Mr. Iwao's wrongful conviction case was resolved by the retrial and subsequent acquittal?

That's not true.

Mr. Iwao's wrongful conviction case highlights many problems with the criminal justice system that persist to this day.
Our legal team will expose the problems with the criminal justice system that have persisted for 58 years and continue to this day, through two lawsuits seeking state compensation.
We must never again allow a tragedy like the one that befell Iwao and Hideko to happen.

Summary of the case

Iwao was wrongly convicted in a robbery, murder, and arson case that occurred in June 1966. After his arrest, Iwao maintained his innocence. However, he succumbed to the inhumane interrogation of the investigating authorities and made a false confession. He consistently maintained his innocence throughout the subsequent trial. After his appeal was rejected and his death sentence was finalized, Iwao developed a confinement reaction due to the long years of being held in custody and constantly under the threat of execution. He withdrew into his own world, stating that "the incident never happened" and refusing to meet with his lawyers.

In March 2014, the court decided to grant a retrial. Along with the suspension of the death penalty, the execution of his detention was also suspended, and Mr. Iwao was released. It was his release after 47 years and 7 months since his arrest. Mr. Iwao, who was 30 years old when he was arrested, was now 78 years old.

Due to the prosecutor's appeal against the decision to grant a retrial, it took a long time for Mr. Iwao to clear his name. The retrial was finally confirmed in March 2023. The retrial proceedings then took approximately one year and seven months. In September 2025, the court acquitted Mr. Iwao. It took 58 years for him to be cleared of his name, and he was 88 years old.

Wrongful convictions are caused by illegal investigations by law enforcement agencies, as well as the concealment and fabrication of evidence. They are also caused by erroneous judgments by the courts. In wrongful conviction state compensation lawsuits, we will hold accountable the illegal actions of the police, prosecutors, and courts that led to these wrongful convictions.

Furthermore, after the retrial and acquittal, the prosecution released a statement from the Attorney General that continued to portray Mr. Iwao as the culprit. In this defamation lawsuit seeking state compensation, we will challenge the illegality of the prosecution, which, despite being the very entity that created this wrongful conviction, has failed to reflect on its own mistakes.

Background

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▲Acquittal was finalized on October 9, 2024.

Issues in the trial

1. State compensation lawsuit for false accusations

Why was Mr. Iwao wrongly implicated?
In this wrongful conviction lawsuit seeking state compensation, five major illegalities are being alleged.

The first issue is the illegality of the police investigation conducted before indicting Mr. Iwao.

Through the retrial, it has become clear that the police, shortly after the incident occurred, assumed Mr. Iwao was the culprit and concealed and fabricated multiple pieces of evidence in order to indict him.

However, it is not easy to expose the concealment or fabrication of evidence by the police. Even today, it is difficult to objectively verify the legality of police investigations afterward, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they are, in a sense, a "lawless zone." Investigations in this lawless zone are a breeding ground for wrongful convictions.

The second issue is the illegality of the police and prosecutors' interrogation of Mr. Iwao.

After his arrest, Mr. Iwao was interrogated for 19 days, averaging 12 hours a day, often extending into the middle of the night or late into the night. The interrogations were psychologically manipulative, with the police relentlessly pressuring him to confess, assuming he was guilty. Furthermore, when Mr. Iwao needed to urinate, the police brought a toilet into the interrogation room and forced him to relieve himself, a humiliating and inhumane act. The retrial acquittal determined that the confession statement prepared by the prosecutor and adopted by the first instance judgment was fabricated.

The third issue is the illegality of the prosecution.

The indictment against Mr. Iwao was illegal and unjust, as, even considering all the evidence at the time, there was not enough suspicion that he had committed the crimes described in the indictment. Furthermore, the questioning and supplementary investigations conducted against Mr. Iwao after the indictment, as well as the subsequent litigation, were also found to be illegal.

The fourth is the illegality of fabricating evidence.

Approximately one year and two months after Iwao's indictment, five bloodstained items of clothing were discovered in a miso tank near the crime scene. The final first-instance judgment identified these five items of clothing as the clothing worn during the crime. Furthermore, a piece of fabric found among Iwao's belongings at his family home was identified as the same fabric as the hem of a pair of dark blue trousers among the five items of clothing, leading to Iwao's conviction as the culprit. However, the five items of clothing and the fabric piece were fabricated evidence created by the police and prosecutors after the incident. The retrial acquittal also recognized the five items of clothing and the fabric piece as fabricated evidence.

The fifth reason is the illegality of the court's erroneous judgment.

The first instance court, despite being able to notice that five items of clothing were fabricated, overlooked this fact and found Mr. Iwao guilty. The appellate court and the Supreme Court upheld this erroneous finding of guilt. Similarly, the Shizuoka District Court, which handled the first request for retrial, also made an error in its judgment and dismissed the request for retrial. The immediate appeal and the special appeal upheld this erroneous judgment. Furthermore, the court that handled the immediate appeal before the remand in the second request for retrial also made an error in its judgment and dismissed the request for retrial. The courts that made these erroneous judgments must also be held accountable.

The legal team is seeking approximately 608.4 million yen in damages for the illegal acts and other actions described above.

2. Litigation for state compensation for defamation

On September 26, 2024, the Shizuoka District Court acquitted Mr. Iwao. On October 8 of the same year, Prosecutor General Naomi Unemoto issued a statement indicating that the court would not appeal. The following day, the prosecutors submitted a document waiving their right to appeal, and Mr. Iwao's acquittal became final.

In this statement, the Attorney General questioned the factual findings of the aforementioned not-guilty verdict, stating that "the reasoning process (of the not-guilty verdict) contains many parts that contradict the rules of logic and experience, and I cannot help but feel strong dissatisfaction with this verdict's conclusion that the 'five items of clothing' were fabricated by the investigating authorities." This is tantamount to saying, "The not-guilty verdict is wrong. Iwao is the culprit." Since this statement indicates a decision not to appeal, it is certain that Iwao's not-guilty verdict will be finalized. For a state institution like the prosecution to declare someone who has been acquitted as "the culprit" is nothing short of defamation. Furthermore, this is an illegal act that violates the duty imposed on a state institution to respect a not-guilty verdict.

social significance

Iwao's wrongful conviction case is not a thing of the past.

The lawless investigative practices, illegal interrogations, fabrication and concealment of evidence by law enforcement agencies, and the courts that overlook these issues—the root causes of the numerous illegal acts committed in Mr. Iwao's wrongful conviction case still exist in the current criminal justice system.

Following Mr. Iwao's acquittal in his retrial, the police and prosecutors have each published the results of their investigations into the case. However, both are one-sided and insufficient. The court hasn't even conducted an investigation.

We must learn from Mr. Iwao's wrongful conviction case in order to prevent a recurrence of the same tragedy that befell Mr. Iwao and Ms. Hideko. To that end, it is necessary to expose the illegal acts committed against Mr. Iwao through these two national compensation lawsuits.

Use of Donations

• Litigation fees (stamp duty, postage, printing costs, etc.)
- Expenses for the legal team's activities (transportation costs, communication costs, etc.)
- Costs for organizing and digitizing evidence - Administrative costs for public relations activities

Necessary expenses for pursuing litigation.

Plaintiff's thoughts

Iwao is currently unable to express his feelings due to a reaction to being confined.

Therefore, I would like to share Mr. Iwao's diary entry from February 1983 (Showa 58) (during the first request for retrial). In a message to his son, Mr. Iwao wrote about his unwavering will to fight. We, the defense team, will also fight with an unwavering spirit.

My son, I hope you will soon grow up to be a pure and courageous person.

There is nothing to be afraid of, and when your friends ask you how your father is doing, tell them this:

My father is confronting unjust chains. He is fighting against these old, tattered chains, symbolic of this era, that try to impose outdated and barbaric intentions, in the place where so many demons have died, until he shatters these unjust chains (while embodying the greatness of justice).

My son, if you dedicate your energy to doing what is right and learn from the harsh and unforgiving nature of this society, I'm sure that in the not-too-distant future, Chan will return to you in good health.

And I will prove it to you. Your Chan has never killed anyone, and the police know that best, and the judge feels the most sorry.

Chan will break these chains and return to where you are.

Message from the assigned attorney

The legal team for the state compensation lawsuit consists of nine lawyers, some of whom were in charge of Mr. Iwao's retrial case. The head of the legal team is lawyer Hideyo Ogawa, who handled Mr. Iwao's retrial case for approximately 40 years, from 1984 (when the first retrial request was heard at the district court) until the acquittal in the retrial.

With a determination to never again allow a tragedy like that of Iwao and Hideko to be repeated, the defense team will expose the responsibility of the police, prosecutors, and courts, and the ongoing darkness within the criminal justice system.

Introduction of the assigned lawyer

Hideyo Ogawa (Chief of the legal team, Shizuoka Prefectural Bar Association)
Osamu Murasaki (First Tokyo Bar Association)
Manabu Sasamori (Sapporo Bar Association)
Mitsuhiro Hazama (Shizuoka Prefectural Bar Association)
Shuichi Ito (Tokyo Bar Association)
Keiji Todate (Second Tokyo Bar Association)
Hidenori Kato (Saitama Bar Association)
Seiko Hakusan (Shizuoka Prefectural Bar Association)
Miwako Nishizawa (Shizuoka Prefectural Bar Association)

In conclusion

The two state compensation lawsuits we have filed will take a considerable amount of time to conclude, and we anticipate incurring administrative costs for organizing a large amount of evidence, dealing with the media, and other related expenses. We would appreciate your donations to cover the necessary expenses for conducting these lawsuits.